Star Wars A Parallel Universe
by Hanna5693
Summary: In a parallel universe Obi-Wan Kenobi has two padawans: Anakin and Echo. Their friendship is strong and working together they are undefeatable but more is yet to cross their path. AU! Takes place about the same time as the second film :D give or take xxx
1. Prologue

**A/N **

**firstly i apologize for the extreme length but it had to be done properly and it can only be done properly when it is very long =D and secondly i hope that you like it so please review as this is my first story and i would like to know what you think of it!**

**Disclaimer: i do not own the Star Wars stories - George Lucas does! - but i do own Echo =D**

* * *

**Prologue - 10 years ago**

After the last of the celebrations on Naboo, Obi-Wan and Anakin returned to the Jedi halls to begin Anakin's training.

"Now then, my young Padawan, I want you to concentrate on this ball. Without squinting at it – trust me that is _not _going to work."

Anakin's mind became oblivious to its surroundings – all he could see and think of was the small metal ball, no larger than a fist, in front of him. His greyish blue eyes began to quiver ever so slightly that you wouldn't have noticed of you didn't know what you were looking for.

"Nearly there." Encouraged Obi-Wan. The ball began to float off his finger tips. "Brilliant, Anakin!"

At the sound of his name, Anakin's eyes flicked to Obi-Wan's and the ball dropped but just as suddenly, they flicked back to the ball before it fell into Obi-Wan's waiting hand. Anakin smiled proudly.

"I'm dong it! I'm doing it!"

"Yes you are. That's very good, well done, Anakin! Now let's begin to make this a little more challenging, shall we?" He placed a shallow bowl on a table to his left as Anakin kept the ball suspended. "Now try and get the ball into the bowl."

Anakin obliged by turning his head quickly towards the bowl, throwing it in a low curve that sent the ball neatly into the bowl.

"Ha! Incredible." Laughed Obi-Wan. "Now, larger objects, I think." This went on for a few hours first increasing the size and weight of the objects and then encouraging the use of his hands. Anakin found that using his hands made it much easier to control the objects and throw them accurately. The tasked varied from getting the objects into containers to creating elaborate assault courses – designed by Anakin and Obi-Wan which they both greatly enjoyed.

"Alright, I think that's enough for today, its getting late and I can see you shivering. Get back to the apartment and get some rest – it's been a long day."

"Yes, Master Obi-Wan." Said Anakin, bowing respectfully.

* * *

Obi-Wan decided to escape the presently depressing surroundings of the Jedi halls, and went to find the diner in Coco Town that he knew so well. It was run by his good friend, Dexter Jettster, a besalisk he had stumbled across – and attacked, to great regret – as a Jedi Youngling. Dex had been around the galaxy a lot, trading, dealing and working with some strange characters with his family but eventually he settled down to open 'Dexter's Diner'.

Obi-Wan entered the diner. It was quite late in the day so there were only a few groups of people inside and Obi-Wan chose one of the red leather bound seats out of the way of the other customers. A droid waitress came to Obi-Wan's table and he ordered a large cup of 'Jawa Juice'. The droid then left him to himself, shouting the order to a small girl behind the counter.

A large brown creature came out of the kitchen, his filthy white shirt barely covering the thick spikes that protruded from his back, to collect some dirty dishes. As he turned around, he noticed Obi-Wan.

"My goodness. Obi-Wan Kenobi!"

"Hello Dex." Said an exhausted Obi-Wan as he got up to greet his old friend.

"Well, well, well, what brings you out here? And at this hour?"

"It's been a bit of a rough day and I thought that I could use some friendly company. Do you mind?"

"Not at all, my friend." They both sat down at the table that Obi-Wan had selected earlier. "Have you ordered a drink?"

"Yes I Have. I think it was being brought over soon."

Dex called over to the counter. The little girl that Obi-Wan had seen before popped up and turned to grab something behind her. She turned with nothing in her hand with her fingers spread out, the fourth and fifth fingers slightly bent. She motioned from behind her to the table where Obi-Wan and Dex were sitting and then a cup was gliding through the air towards them. Obi-Wan was shocked. He gaped at Dex.

"Really something ain't she? Been doing that for years" Said Dex proudly. "Anyway, how's it going, Obi-Wan?"

"Um … fine. Who was that?"

"Oh that's just Echo, my niece."

"Your niece?"

"Yeah. Do you remember when we first met all those years ago that we were in possession of a slave boy from … somewhere."

"Alborne, your adopted brother? Yes I remember him."

"Well he ran off many years ago and only returned occasionally but the last time he _did _return, he came with a baby. Little Echo, over there."

"I remember him always being separate and I remember you telling me that he had disappeared. Wait didn't he die about four years ago?"

"Yes. It was _six_ years actually. Only months after he had brought us the child. He said that he had found this incredible girl and that she had gotten pregnant. Echo being her baby, of course. Alborne had said that the girl had died during child birth and that he didn't think that he could take care of a baby girl on his own, so he left her with us."

"Do you know who the girl was?"

"No idea. We don't know anything about her and probably never will."

"Dex, this girl, Echo did you say she was? Well she has Jedi control. I've never seen anything like that before in one so young. Who wasn't trained by the Jedi."

"Really?" Dex suddenly went very quiet. "Funny you should say that."

"What's wrong Dex?"

"Well, it's just that Alborne said … when he died…"

"Tell me, Dex. What did he say … when he died?"

"He said that Echo would need Jedi training. He also asked that I go straight to you – he remembered you from when he was little – and he wanted me to get you to train her. I thought nothing of it. You know how he had always been jealous of you being a Jedi."

"Well if it was on his death bed that he told you to do that then the council has to let me take her as a padawan. Especially as she looks too old to learn as a youngling. However, I already have Anakin…"

"Do you think that you can help her?"

"It's possible. But, Dex, it would mean that you will have to give her up as your waitress."

"Oh, that doesn't matter. It's what Alborne wanted for her … I owe him this."

"Then I will try my best to help her."

"Thank you Obi-Wan! Echo! Come here I have something to tell you."

"You are very sure that you want to come with me, are you, Echo?"

"Yes, mister Kenobi. Thank you." Echo Grinned up at obi-Wan, not a shred of fear in her eyes. _Good, she is enthusiastic, then she might have a chance against the council. I just hope they will give me a chance but they really don't have a choice on the matter._

* * *

"Let me understand this, Obi-Wan. You wish to take on a _second_ apprentice?" Mace Windu appeared to be unable to believe what he was hearing.

"It appears that I have no choice, Masters." Answered Obi-Wan. He placed a hand on the little girl's shoulder. "She was entrusted to me directly on the dying wish of her late father."

"Blame this padawan on Qui-Gon, you cannot." Assured Yoda.

"I am fully aware of that and in the case of Echo here it would not apply."

"But it goes against the Jedi Code!" Insisted Windu.

"Very true, master, but our hands are tied in this case. You cannot remove Anakin as my first padawan and Echo has been trusted to me as a part of a sentiment that cannot be reconciled with. You must understand this." To Obi-Wan there was clearly no choice in the matter. He believed that Echo would become a fine Jedi not matter who her master was, but he felt that it was important that she trained under him.

"Possible for her to go to another Master, it is not." Said Yoda, Shaking his head and looking at the floor.

"I see no harm in Obi-Wan Kenobi taking on a second apprentice." Said Ki-Adi-Mundi. "Ages of six and nine are very similar, after all. And Obi-Wan has proved himself to be _more_ than capable of this."

"I agree with Master Windu; it cannot be good for a Jedi to have _two_ padawans or it would have been done before." Said Kit Fisto.

"Obi-Wan has a lot of energy, being so young, and I am certain that he can handle them both." Argued Luminara Unduli. "Maybe they will both benefit from working as a team. You cannot know for sure until it has been tried _because_ it has never been done before."

"An excellent point, you make." Yoda took a pause and thought deeply. Then he looked up and walked over to Obi-Wan. "Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi."

"Yes, Master Yoda." Said Obi-Wan, cautiously.

"Believe that you can care for both children, do you?"

Obi-Wan nodded.

"Train both in the art of the force, you can?"

"Yes. I trust that I can, master."

"Hmmm." Said Yoda, with his cheeky little grin, he looked at Echo who just stared at the floor. He then turned and nodded to Mace Windu, returning to his seat.

"I therefore pronounce you, Obi-Wan Kenobi, master to both Anakin Skywalker and the girl Echo." Said Windu, with a little reluctance.

"Thank you, Masters." Said obi-Wan and he nudged Echo to follow his example.

Echo bowed lopsidedly. "Thank you, Master Jedis." She said in a small, quiet voice. They both turned and walked out of the council chamber.

"I do not think that this is a good idea, Yoda." Said Windu, once they had left the chamber. "Training two young Jedi simultaneously could become a liability for Kenobi and us."

"I understand you concerns, master Windu, but believe it will come to great things, I do." Yoda still had a triumphant smile on his face. "Extraordinary, they all tree are."

"Yes, I must admit that I was not expecting medichlorian counts to so high. Definitely not for there to be _two_ found in one day! Echo's count is more than five times the count of Anakin, and _his_ count was off the charts!" Exclaimed Kit Fisto.

"Yes. I do believe that this will be _very_ interesting to watch." Said Unduli.

"Yes, well we will see." Said Windu. Still not convinced.

Once outside, Obi-Wan crouched down so that he was Echo's height. "Well, Echo, we are to be working together. Isn't that exciting?" Echo nodded enthusiastically. "If I'm honest I didn't think that they would let me do this, but I suppose that they were bound to follow a dead man's wishes, as I thought." He stood up and turned to carry on walking. "Come, now. Let's go find your new friend."

* * *

"Very good, young master Skywalker" cooed the maid-droid as he continued to amaze her by levitating my table. It was an MD-T76 - a maid droid assigned to Anakin's room.

_Man, I love me new Jedi tricks! _He thought. "Master Obi-Wan says I'm a natural." He smirked. "Though, he always says that I must only practice 'under controlled circumstances'." _Whatever that means._

"Your master will be returning soon, young master Skywalker"

"I should hope so." He lifted a chair as well. "Where's he gone anyway?"

"Master Kenobi said that he was to be visiting a friend, young master Skywalker."

"Did he say wh-"

"Anakin?" _Obi-Wan! He's returned._ "Anakin, can you come out here for a moment?"

"Coming!" Anakin raced out of the room letting the furniture fall, clattering to the floor. _Oops. Oh well, the droid can worry about that._

Obi-Wan Kenobi was standing in the middle of the main room of their apartment – they were Master and Padawan now, its official – with a figure cloaked in a robe that was _far_ too big for it, standing at his side. It was no taller than Anakin's shoulder height. He couldn't see its face as it was covered in an expanse of dark fabric.

"Anakin Skywalker, this is Echo. She's going to be staying with us from now on" He smiled down at her and she looked up briefly at the sound of her name then continued to stare at the floor. In the short movement the folds of the cloth fell from her head to reveal a very young girl with delicate features and long, dark brown hair that hung, matted, over her shoulders. She looked so innocent. Her dark blue eyes large and glistening with tears but they were the only sign of fear on her face.

_Huh? Is she scared?_ Obi-Wan tilted his head towards Echo and raised his eyebrows at Anakin.

"Pleased to meet you." He said. Smiling encouragingly. "I hope you like it here. I do." There was a pause and then Echo looked up and made a little bow towards Anakin. Her hair fell over her face, like curtains.

"You may go to your room now" Obi-Wan said to Echo. "It's down the hall on the left and there should be a selection of clothes for you to change into. I'll call you in ten minutes, okay?" Echo nodded and half ran to the door, struggling a little with how to open the door and then went inside.

For some reason the Master-Padawan apartments in Coruscant were always accommodated with four rooms, a spacious communal bathroom and a large common room. Two rooms were obviously for bedrooms but maybe the other two were for meditation, though that was always done elsewhere in the halls. Obi-Wan, Anakin and now Echo, would be sharing the apartment the Obi-Wan had formerly shared with his Master, Qui-Gon Jinn … before his death … at the hands of Darth Maul. At any rate, it was now very useful to have so many spare rooms available.

"Sweet little creature, isn't she?" Obi-Wan mused.

"She's scared. Master Yoda said that fear could lead to hatred and suffering … or something like that … he talks strangely." Anakin's forehead creased with confusion.

"Yes, but she hides it well. There's a lot of promise there and the council have decided that you will make a pair."

"Was she at your friend's? Is that where you were?" Asked Anakin, staring quizzically up at Obi-Wan.

"Yes." Obi-Wan grinned. "She was in the diner levitating objects around. Like you do now. To do that without any Jedi training or exposure shows incredible, raw talent."

"How old is she?"

"Six, just three years younger than you, so, I thought that you might get along. What do you think?"

"I dunno." Said Anakin, shrugging. "She _might _be alright. But we need to let her settle in a little bit, I think."

"Good idea; we'll do that." Obi-Wan said as if he hadn't already thought of that. "I'm sure that she will be very grateful for the time to herself"


	2. Chapter one

**A/N: enormous thanks to my wondeful Beta LiGi - you are awesome**

**when i say 'Forced' it means that they are using to the Force to push, pull, jump etc i just thought that it sounded better if i didn't specifically say 'they force pulled the light sabre towards them' hope it's not too wierd =D**

**Disclaimer: i do not own Star Wars - George Lucas does - but i do own Echo**

**enjoy!**

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**Chapter one**

The buzzing of colliding light sabres reverberated around the grand entrance hall of the Jedi. The sounds bounced off the great stone columns and arched ceiling decorated elaborately with tiles the colour of autumn leaves and deep charcoal. In fact the sounds themselves were actually coming from the training practice hall where Obi-Wan Kenobi was running his two padawans, Anakin and Echo through their paces.

Obi-Wan was standing on the side adjacent to the door, watching Anakin and Echo. Both padawans had their own light sabres, single bladed and bright blue. Echo's was more of an icy blue compared to Anakin's which had a slight hint of purple. Although both colours were not distinguishable as the blades themselves were being swung and thrown around continuously, until they collided in the air repeatedly to release the buzzing sound heard in the hallways.

Obi-Wan drew his light sabre – also a bright blue colour.

"Echo, catch!" He said, and threw his blade about two metres above the battling blur.

Echo Forced Anakin back, leapt into a somersault over his head, neatly grabbing the falling light sabre by the handle and landed with her back to Anakin. He span to the right, holding his blade upright and it collided with Echo's two blades – held sideways – as she pivoted clockwise to face him.

Obi-Wan watched for a few minutes before turning to face the wall behind him. There was a square panel large enough to hold his hand as he placed it on it, then the square went white. A strip of the wall came out to reveal a weapon rack full of light sabres. Obi-Wan took out a duel-ended one then closed the rack. He turned back to the battling pair where Anakin – with only one sabre – clearly had the upper hand.

"Right, listen up but keep going, you're doing well." Simultaneously, Echo and Anakin turned their heads to acknowledge their master but then engaged themselves once again in their combat. "When I say, Echo you are going to throw my light sabre back to me and Anakin you are going to swap your sabre for the one I am going to throw to you. Ok? _Now!_"

Obi-Wan threw the light sabre in his hand at a high angle so that his hands were free for when the other two blades were thrown at him. But only one returned to him. Anakin waited until Echo had thrown Obi-Wan's sabre, to attack her from her left. She hadn't expected this and so retaliated a little stronger than anticipated. Anakin had also not expected this and Echo's retaliation caused his light sabre to flick out of his hand. Obi-Wan Forced it towards himself, catching it. Anakin however was now left unarmed as the light sabre that Obi-Wan had thrown had now fallen to the floor, and was now far to his right. He leapt back into a backwards somersault to land graciously into a feline-like crouch on the opposite side of the room. He Forced the duel light sabre into his hand, ignited it and waited for Echo's reaction. She stood facing him, chest heaving heavily. They slowly began to walk towards each other, both with light sabre in hand and held low. Once they were within a couple of metres of one another they began to circle, predatorily. Occasionally, Echo would tap her sabre on the lower blade of Anakin's, teasingly. After a few steps, Anakin turned in the opposite direction to attack from the other side. But Echo was prepared for this.

Once Obi-Wan was satisfied that they had done enough he got them to swap and added Anakin's sabre again. Anakin now had two light sabres whilst Echo had the duel one. Echo became more forceful and kept pushing Anakin back but whenever he felt that she had pushed him too far he would simply spin around her. But with one final lunge, Echo sent Anakin crashing to the floor, both of his weapons flung out of his hands as she fell with him. She held the handle of the, withdrawn, duel-bladed light sabre pressed horizontally across his neck.

"Check mate." Echo gasped desperately. As he panted to regain his breath, Anakin became acutely aware that Echo, in her crouching position, had her knees either side of his waist and her elbows leaning on his chest. Her face was so close to his that her scent filled his airways. It was captivating to be so close to her.

Echo thought that as she stared into Anakin's eyes, trying to regain control over her heart rate, she could see a hint of fear flash across the surface, but, almost as soon as she noticed this, it was gone and they began to soften. They were such a peculiar shade of blue; very grey but with just a hint of green.

Obi-Wan started applauding.

"Very good, my padawans, very good …" He said as he clapped, almost sarcastically slow. Echo straightened up and stepped off Anakin to allow him to stand. As he did so he took hold of Echo's ankle and lifted it which sent _her _falling to the floor instead.

_Ha ha!_ He thought. _Revenge_. Anakin smirked to himself and followed his master out of the hall. "Come on, Echo, don't dawdle!" He called over his shoulder, grinning.

Echo sat there for a moment glaring after Anakin, then shrugged and stood up to follow.

Obi-Wan had been summoned to the Council briefing of a new assignment for himself and his two padawans. As only he was a master, the younger two had to wait outside whilst he faced the council alone.

* * *

Obi-Wan entered the great room of the council chamber and felt, immediately, all of the disapproving eyes following him. He searched for the kindest eyes and once he found them, bowed to Master Yoda.

"Good evening, Masters." Said Obi-Wan, respectfully, hoping that he wouldn't get too much resentment for initially ignoring his summoning. He so hated the examination of the Jedi Council and constantly did anything within his power to avoid it.

"Master Kenobi. To join us, you have decided." Master Yoda was greatly amused, as always.

"Yes … umm … my apologies, Masters, for I was training my padawans."

"Understanding that their training always comes first for you, Obi-wan, but you must always come to the Council when summoned. It is your duty." Said Master Windu, almost scolding.

"Yes, well I understand. I was summoned for a purpose? A new assignment, maybe?"

"Yes. A new assignment, it is." Said Yoda. Mace Windu took over the briefing.

"Obi-wan, there is a CIS uprising on the planet of Felucia." _Uh oh._ Thought Obi-Wan. "Unfortunately, this is all we know. Something out there is keeping everything that happens on the planet very quiet."

"Need you to find out, we do, what is going on." Said Yoda.

"You think that Dooku is behind this?" Asked Ob-Wan.

"It's possible, but unlikely. Remember that _Count_ Dooku was once a Jedi. Assassination and murder is not in his nature." Scowled Windu.

"Yes, but _deceit _is." Argued Obi-Wan.

"Hmm. Master Kenobi does have a point." Said Ki-Adi-Mundi.

"This need not be discussed _now._ Obi-Wan, go to Felucia in a small star ship tomorrow morning. Take Anakin and Echo with you. Discover what you can and report back regularly. Do _not_ return until we command you otherwise." Said Windu.

"Yes, Master." Obi-Wan bowed respectfully. "I take it that, as we are _spying_ that you do not want us to go into any civilisation but stay in the ship?"

"Yes. Take previsions, you must." Said Yoda.

"May the Force be with you, Obi-Wan Kenobi." Said Windu.

"May the Force be with _you,_ Masters." Replied Obi-Wan, and left.

* * *

Anakin was leaning, casually, against the thick stone wall that separated the Jedi Council Chamber from the corridors where they were. He had his head back and one hand on his light sabre, his mind completely oblivious to the present surroundings as he thought about his home … Tatooine … and his mother. Echo was facing him, leaning on the opposite wall, staring at the floor, although her mind was completely blank.

She let out a sudden sigh, which started her companion out of his reverie, and slowly slid down the wall to sit on the floor with her knees bent up in front of her. Anakin crossed the corridor and sat close beside her.

"What do you think it's gunna be?" He asked.

"No idea." She replied with a sigh, knowing he meant the assignment. "You?"

"Not a clue."

"You were pretty good today." Echo said with a smile. When Anakin gave her a quizzical look she added: "At practice."

"Oh right. Thanks. You weren't _too_ bad yourself."

"What do you mean _'too bad'_? I was awesome." She said in a mockingly smug tone.

"Yeah, yeah. You know I _let_ you win."

"No way! I beat you out right." She gave him an intense glare. "And you know it."

Anakin looked into her dark, deep blue eyes and matched her gaze. Then laughed "Yeah, ok. But you know that if it was single on single it would always be _me _beating _you._"

"Oh definitely, hands down." Echo grinned and put her hands up in surrender.

Although Echo and Anakin were equals as Jedi, there were always going to be parts of their training where one of them was more superior. Such as with Anakin, he was more superior in swords play, engineering – naturally – and flying. Echo was extraordinary in her own way – she had a talent with the Force that had not been seen in a Jedi before, especially not in one so _young_.

She grinned at him and he took her hand, threading his fingers through hers. At that point Obi-Wan left the Jedi Council Chamber. He sighed heavily.

"You are not going to believe it." Said Obi-Wan, not believing it himself.

"Not believe what?" Asked Echo.

"Our new assignment destination."

"Where?" Asked Anakin.

"Seriously, you will never guess."

"Then tell us, Master." Said Anakin.

"Felucia." Said Obi-Wan.

"The bug planet? Really?" said Echo.

"You're kidding." Initially, Anakin laughed but when Obi-Wan appeared to be as serious as he had been on their last bad assignment to Mygeeto, it dawned on him that it was true. _Crap._

* * *

_**A/N: pleeeeaaaase, pleeeeaaaase review!**_


	3. Chapter two

**A/N ok this is very short i know but it has some important bits so hope you enjoy =D**

**

* * *

****Chapter two**

Chancellor Palpatine's interest in Anakin was not trusted by any of the Jedi. Since his rise to power, as Supreme Chancellor, he had become less and less worthy of their trust. Anakin had shown signs of great Jedi talent from the moment he was found by Qui-Gon Jinn and since his placement as padawan learner the Chancellor had kept a close eye on him.

Naturally any young child given such attention would thrive and accept it but once Anakin began to see this attention through the eyes of his master and friends he saw that it was indeed very strange. Obi-Wan always said; "Never trust a politician".

As, despite his best efforts, Anakin was still under the eye of the Chancellor he had to report to him on their mission to Felucia.

"Come to get me in ten minutes, alright. Otherwise I'll be there all evening." Instructed Anakin to Echo, as she walked him to the Chancellor's quarters.

"Of course." Echo grinned. She hated to be the centre of attention but loved to see Anakin squirm under it. "I've got to go and sort out food for tomorrow so… enjoy your evening." She pushed Anakin into the opening doors, flashed another cheeky grin at him and ran down the corridor – away from the Chancellor and Anakin.

"_Echo!_" Anakin yelled after her, then smiled and shook his head before entering the Chancellor's apartment. He was standing over a desk which was completely covered in paper – accounts, blueprints, and letters from other governments – leaning on a chair covered in a long black cloak.

The Chancellor looked up as Anakin neared him.

"Ah, Anakin. So nice to see you."

"Chancellor." Said Anakin as he bowed.

"Come, now, Anakin, no need to be formal here. It's a 'safe space', so they say." The Chancellor chuckled to himself. Anakin winced. _Come on, Echo, it must have been ten minutes by now. _He thought.

"So, Anakin, you were going to tell me all about your latest assignment." Said Palpatine.

"Yes, your Excellency."

"Well then, where must you go?"

"We are to go to Felucia."

"Felucia?" the Chancellor was surprised at the chosen destination. "What possible interest would the Jedi Council have there?"

"They don't really know." _Can't give too much away now, can we?_ Anakin smiled to himself.

"Hmm. Well you must have been set a task, Anakin."

"Not really."

"Well then you must inform me of everything that happens there, once you have returned. How long will you be away?"

"I don't know." _Hurry up. Hurry up. Hurry up!_

Slightly angered by Anakin's lack of complete answers, Palpatine walked over to the gigantic window that overlooked the city planet.

"Well, Anakin, you must be-" there was a slow knock at the door. "Come in."

Echo walked through the door, her head bowed. _Thank you!_ Thought Anakin.

"Good evening, Chancellor Palpatine." Said Echo.

"Ah, Miss …..?"

"Echo, your Excellency." Echo winked at Anakin when the Chancellor wasn't looking.

"But that is your first name, what is your second name?"

"There is no second name. 'Echo' is the only name that I possess." _Crap, here we go._ Thought Echo, as the Chancellor continued.

"What reason could there be for that?"

"Well, my father was originally a slave but he was found, and adopted, by a kind family in the slave market at the time. When he discovered that he was a slave to start with he disowned his second name that he was given."

"Why do you not take their name as your own if the family was such an important one?" Asked Palpatine.

"If they had raised me then I would have, definitely. As it is, Master Kenobi found me and brought me here instead."

"What about your mother's name?"

"I don't know it. Neither does my uncle Dex, as my father never told him. My mother died in childbirth. Apparently, the name 'Echo' was given to me by my father because I looked so much like my mother, even as a baby." By this time Echo was looking at the floor. She didn't mind talking about her past, but that didn't stop it from hurting every time she was reminded of how little she knew about herself.

_She doesn't wanna talk about that._ Thought Anakin.

"I suppose that you could say that I _am _named for my mother. Just not literally." Echo concluded. "Now if you don't mind, Chancellor, I must take Anakin from you as we have to leave inexplicably early tomorrow."

"Yes, yes, very well. You may leave." Echo bowed, turned and Anakin made to follow her. "Anakin, it is always a pleasure to see your progress."

"Thank you, your Excellency."

"Too early, was I?" Teased Echo, as they left through the door.

"Not at all." Grinned Anakin. Once they were quite a way down the corridor on the way to their own apartment Anakin put his arm around Echo's waist and pulled her into a half hug. "Thank you." He whispered in her ear.

* * *

**A/N hope you like =D leaving for Canada for three weeks tomorrow (woop woop) so will not update until then - sorry guys- but if you press the little button just below titled 'Review this Chapter' then you can tell me what you think - pleeeeeeaaaaase!**


	4. Chapter three

**Chapter three**

Anakin was standing just in front of the boarding ramp of the star ship that he, Obi-Wan and Echo would soon be embarking in for Felucia. Echo had been sent to fetch the last of the supplies needed and Anakin grinned as he saw Echo enter the hanger.

"Alright, let's go." He called to Obi-Wan who had been left with the duty of getting them off Coruscant and into orbit. Obi-Wan started the engines.

Anakin grinned again with an evil glare in his eyes. "Come on, Echo!" He called as he stepped backwards onto the boarding ramp.

Echo was quite far from the star ship and let out a heavy sigh before setting out into a sprint across the hanger.

"Why must he _always_ do this?" she asked rhetorically. She raced to the boarding ramp, using her right hand to control the levitated crates that trailed behind her. She reached the boarding ramp just as they reached the edge of the hanger where she flung her hand forwards to send the crates to the centre of the ship and collapsed into a sitting position – legs crossed – in the middle of the ramp which was now raised into the centre of the ship.

"Wh … why?" She panted

She openly glared at Anakin who was in hysterics despite having narrowly missed being crushed by flying crates.

"Why not?" He managed to say between bursts of laughter. He turned from Echo to enter the control cabin so that he could take over the controls from Obi-Wan.

"It's _your _fault if I've forgotten something!" She shouted at his back. _Bloody boys! _She thought.

* * *

Echo entered the control cabin to find Anakin at the panels and Obi-Wan peering over the hologram map of the galaxy.

"Are you _sure_ you want _him_ to have this much responsibility?" Echo whispered.

Anakin chuckled at her remark and whispered back: "Good point." He looked back at Obi-Wan, who just appeared to be getting more and more lost in the blue shadows of planets that hovered above the table. He kept tapping the small, transparent chip that had been inserted into the table to generate the map, consequently, the images became more fuzzy.

"Erm … Obi-Wan, could you go and … check the shield stabilisers?" Said Anakin.

"Sure." Obi-Wan said brightly, leaving the cabin immediately. _Thank you._ Thought Obi-Wan. _Never understood those things anyway. _

Once he had left the room, Echo spun the chair next to Anakin and collapsed into it. They both burst into laughter.

"Oh, god! It's _so_ funny to watch him struggle with this kind of thing." Echo gasped.

"Hell it is." Anakin sighed. "Could _you_ do the map? Before he returns?"

"Of course."

Anakin's eyes followed her as she went over to the - now flickering - hologram, corrected the insert and traced her delicate fingers through the images. He smiled softly and returned to flying the star ship.

"It's not _too_ far from here." Echo said. "If you head for Kashyyk, about two parsecs away, and from there it should be a due west direction for another parsec."

"Thanks." He said as he easily swerved to avoid an asteroid.

Echo slowly walked up behind his chair and loosely placed her arms over his collar bone onto his chest and rested her chin on his shoulder. He smiled and tilted his head slightly to lean on hers, gently.

"Sorry about earlier?" Said Anakin.

Echo chuckled quietly. "No you're not." She said, smiling and squeezing him slightly.

They stayed there for a while, watching the moons of other planets sail past their ship, until they could sense Obi-Wan returning.

"Just go along with what ever he says and stay on my course." Echo whispered into his ear before she straightened up, moving her hands to rest on his shoulders instead.

"Yes, m' lady." Said Anakin and Echo shook him slightly which only released more chuckling. Obi-Wan's footsteps could now be heard and he walked into the cabin.

"Right. Shield generators are up and running but the store room is in a bad state."

"Sorry, master." Anakin and Echo said in unison, grinning identically.

"Go sort it out, will you Echo?"

"Yes, master." She left the cabin to go find the storage room.

"So, master, where are we going?"

"Um … Felucia?"

"Yeah, but how do we _get _there?"

_Crap. He's _definitely_ doing this on purpose._ Thought Obi-Wan as he gingerly approached the navigation table.

"Head for … Coruscant, Anakin. I mean …. Uh …"

Anakin tried to refrain from laughing. Obi-Wan tried again:

"Head for … Dagobah and it should be about an hour to the right of that." Obi-Wan said rather proudly.

"As you say, master." Said Anakin. _Never mind that _that _route is in the _complete_ opposite direction. _He added mentally, grinning. "How are you feeling?"

"Hmm? Oh, I'm fine. It feels good to be _away_ from it all." Said Obi-Wan, his gaze lost out of the main window.

"I don't like not knowing what we're looking for." Anakin frowned. "It's clouded my senses."

"I sense it too. There's a lot of uncertainty around this assignment."

"Do you suspect Dooku?"

"I _do!_" Said Obi-Wan, relieved that this view wasn't only his. "Though the council disagrees."

"Why? What better lead do _they_ have?"

"None. They say that as Dooku was once a Jedi himself, that he is incapable of murder."

"But he _is _capable of deceit. Isn't _that_ the issue here?"

"My thoughts exactly." Obi-Wan sighed.

They sat in silence contemplating their present conundrum, Obi-Wan now watching the room whist Anakin continued flying.

"Shit!" Anakin cried.

"What?" Obi-Wan got to his feet and stood behind Anakin.

"Tri-fighter, two o'clock!" Anakin said as he began flicking an array of switches above his head.

The Tri-Fighter – a small, CIS droid controlled fighter ship that was designed to have three semi-circular panels around the main hull, arranged so that it looked like it had three points from the front – had suddenly appeared form behind a nearing asteroid. They were often used for scouting so if not destroyed it could mean _big_ trouble for their tiny ship. Some luminous yellow beams had begun to speed through the vacuum between the two crafts and struck their hull.

"Crap! Where's Echo when we need her?" Said Obi-Wan and almost right on cue, Echo pelted in thought he door.

"What's going on?"

"Tri-fighter." Said Anakin through his teeth as they were struck again.

"Anakin, keep a strong course for us and avoid those beams."

"Yes, master."

"Echo, man the guns and keep a keen target on that fighter!"

"On it!" She ran to the set of panels on the left of Anakin – facing a large, curved window – that mastered the Auto-turrets and laser beams. Obi-Wan ran to the same on the right-hand-side.

"What's a Tri-Fighter doing all the way out here?" Asked Echo.

"No idea. They might be the reason why no-one really knows what's going on!" Said Obi-Wan.

"But these are _Republic_ planets." Said Anakin, as he manoeuvred them out of the firing line of another missile – just.

"And we're light-years out of Felucia's orbit." Said Echo.

"Unless the problem's spreading." Suggested Anakin. "Hold on tight, master!"

"What? Why?" demanded Obi-Wan as Anakin simultaneously dropped the left control and lifted the right control. This sent their star ship plummeting into a roll to the left. Obi-Wan yelled.

"Warn … Me … Next … Time!" Panted Obi-Wan.

"Well he _did_, master." said Echo. Obi-Wan glared at her. "Never mind." She rushed and went back to aiming at the tri-fighter. She made a shot at it with the beam but missed it by inches. "Damn it!"

"Where is it?" Said Obi-Wan.

"On our tail!" Said Anakin.

Echo concentrated, sensing that it would come round her side again … it did … she aimed carefully just in front of it and … "Got it!" She cried as it swerved out of control and blew up on the next asteroid.

"Wooooh!" Anakin cried. "Nice _shot_, Echo!"

She grinned at him but he was still looking out the front.

They continued flying for a bit but they found nothing more so Obi-Wan said that he would take over the quiet flying so that the two younger ones could get some rest.

Anakin and Echo would be sharing a bunk bed room as there where only two small rooms … and Obi-Wan tended to snore.

"Top or bottom?" Asked Anakin as he yawned.

"Don't mind. You choose."

"No _you _choose."

"No _you_-"

"Ok this could take a while." Anakin grinned. "_I'll_ take top, then."

"Uh huh." Yawned Echo.

"Ok, night, Echo."

"Night."

Anakin leapt up into the top bunk and almost immediately fell into subconscious. Echo however, would take longer to fall asleep – always did.

* * *

Echo awoke later that night. She was cold and couldn't find a comfortable spot anymore. She stared at the support beams for the bed above hers for a few minutes before deciding that sleep was beyond her hopes. She sat up, bashing her head on the beams above her. _Ow! _Carefully getting out of the bed, she rubbed the crown of her head. Automatically she walked out of the room and went to sit in the control room, only to be surprised to find Anakin sitting there too.

"Hey."

"Hey." He turned in his seat. "Can't sleep?"

"Nope." Echo sat in the big chair on her right and propped her feet up on the edge of Anakin's seat. "Anything interesting?"

"Nope." He said smiling at her. "Starting to think that the tri-fighter _was_ just a scout."

"Yeah, probably."

Anakin turned sideways so that he could prop his feet on Echo's seat as well. They sat there gently spinning each other back and forth as they watched out the large window in front of them, occasionally glancing at each other to see the other look away. On Anakin's next glance he saw Echo shiver. _She must be freezing to death._ He thought. "Cold?" He asked.

"Not really."

_Of course she would deny it. _He grinned. "Come here." He reached out for her hand. She took it and sat on his lap, resting her cheek on his warm and perfectly toned chest. Anakin swivelled to face the front again and wrapped his right arm around her whilst keeping control of the ship with is left hand. He kissed her head, revelling in how soft her hair was despite the tangles from sleeping.

_Much better_. Thought Echo, as she snuggled against Anakin's warm body. She felt so safe in his arms.

"How can you stay so warm?" she asked.

"From Tatooine, remember." He chuckled at this and Echo could hear his laugh reverberating through his chest.

"Lucky." She said and Anakin rested his cheek on her forehead. "Where are we?"

"We just passed Mygeeto so … should be nearing Kashyyk in about three hours."

"Ok." Echo started to trace the tendons in his arm which was around her, with her fingers. Anakin watched her do so for a bit. "How long have you been flying?"

"Not long. Couple of hours? Obi-Wan was pretty much exhausted by the time I got out though."

"Poor thing." Echo smiled. "He's had a rough day. Don't the council know that he hates flying?"

"Sure they do. Don't think that it can be avoided though, considering the galaxy and all." Echo could feel his jaw move on her head as he smiled.

Anakin could feel Echo relax further onto his chest as they night drew on. After a while her breathing deepened and he could tell that she had fallen asleep. He pulled his head back so that he could see her face; she looked so peaceful, innocent and completely at rest. It made him smile to see her like that; content. There was no sense of time out in the vacuum of space that engulfed the galaxy but Anakin watched Echo sleep for a long time, using his Jedi senses to move the ship out of the way of passing objects. After some time he looked up to see the crest of Kashyyk looming in front of them. He switched the controls to auto-pilot to fly directly to Felucia from Kashyyk. Once satisfied that they wouldn't crash he put one arm under Echo's knees and the other under her armpit and around her ribcage to scoop her up into his arms. Her small frame was quite light but tired as he was, Anakin struggled into their room and laid her on her bed. He covered her shoulders with her blanket and climbed the ladder up to his bed, banging his head on the ceiling. _Ow!_ As soon as his head was on the pillow he drifted back into a comforting sleep.

* * *

Anakin woke up hours later, rolled over and hit his knee against the wall. He groaned. He was used to having a large double bed with all the space he would ever want and, in comparison; the bunk bed was ridiculously narrow. Deciding to get up - considering he was awake anyway – he swung around to land on the floor on his feet and left for the kitchen, whilst untwisting his dark grey t-shirt which had managed to wrap itself tightly around his body.

He reached the kitchen and grabbed the nearest food he could find.

"Morning, Obi-Wan." He said whilst putting the first piece of food into his mouth. _Mmm, apple_.

"Good morning, Anakin. Oh, why did you set the auto-pilot on last night? It was Echo's shift."

"Well … she was exhausted – trouble sleeping again – so I let her have the night off."

Obi-Wan shrugged and got back to getting himself some breakfast.

When Anakin got to the control cabin he found Echo slouching in a chair watching a stone rise and fall from her hands. She caught it again when she noticed him enter.

"Hey." He greeted her.

"Hey." She smiled at him as he continued eating. "Hungry for raw egg, I see?"

"Hmm?" He looked down at the other piece of food in his hands and laughed. "No, actually this is for you." He threw it at her, and she caught it neatly.

"Thanks. Much appreciated." She said sarcastically.

At this point there came a tinny beeping noise from the control panel. They must be nearing Felucia's orbit. True enough, a mottled green planet loomed into view from below the window. Felucia was a mixture of green and blue shades and encased in rings of greyish cloud. Echo moved to sit in the driving seat and took the ship off auto-pilot.

"Ah, we've arrived." Said Obi-Wan, as he came into the cabin.

"Yeah, so where do we need to land, does it matter?" Asked Echo, as she began to battle with the controls.

"We need to be off the outskirts of a town. Doesn't really matter which one but not too big, we don't want to attract too much attention."

"There's a small village called 'Tacarian Village' just coming up below us now." Anakin noted as he studied a map of the planet.

"Perfect. Land there, Echo."

Echo nodded.

Anakin leant close to Echo. "Want _me_ to fly?" He teased.

"No, I think I'll cope, thanks." Said Echo, as she brought them through the layer of cloud around the planet.

Once they had broken into the atmosphere of the planet they were immediately faced with an immense expanse if canopy.

"Ok, so Anakin, where exactly _are_ we? I can't see a _thing_ through all this."

"Er … Tacarian Village should be about three miles directly in front of us."

"Ok so we have enough room to get through this and find a landing spot without crossing the village." Echo thought out loud.

"Good luck getting us through this. The canopy is about ten metres thick at its thinnest point." Obi-Wan informed her.

"Then we will just have to find a way _around_ the canopy."

They flew for about half an hour before the mass of plants began to thin out and then it opened up into a huge flat terrain with only a few plants scattered around. Echo ducked the ship into this field and back under the canopy so that they could hide the ship. They found a small clearing about five miles back towards the village which was well covered by the canopy and only a few miles from the Tacarian Village. Echo landed the ship amongst the old tree trunks and enormous flowers, the colour of sunsets. There were bubble-like spores of seeds around the flowers as well which covered enough of the entrance to the clearing that you couldn't see the star ship unless you knew exactly where you were looking.

"Ok, you need to get out and take a look around. See if you can see any immediate threats to our position and report back in an hour." Said Obi-Wan.

"Us? What are _you _going to do, master?" asked Anakin.

"I'm going to go to that village and get a drink." He grinned.

* * *

**A/N please please please review - i'm desperate for your opinion!**


	5. Chapter four

**Chapter four**

Anakin was wondering around the area that was nearest to their ship and completely covered by the canopy over head. The ground was really moist and springy under foot and he was constantly getting his foot stuck and having to stop and yank it our again. There had been nothing for miles and after a while he had decided to turn around and begin to walk back. The only life forms that he came across were some overly large, luminous orange centipedes that went around in hoards and came unnervingly close to him.

"Urgh! I _hate _this. What would anyone want with _Felucia_, anyway?"

There was a constant undertone of screeching that sounded through the forest, bouncing off the dark blue and green tree trunks and the plant ceiling above him.

_Ok I've gone far enough – time to head back._ Thought Anakin and he sprinted back to the ship.

* * *

Echo had been sent to go and investigate the open terrain. It was expansive and had shallow rivers running through it. She had occasionally come across a type of animal she knew as an Acklay which was a green bug with pincer legs and a white underbelly that was at least five times her height. Whenever she saw these creatures she would hide on the tree trunk that spread across the ravines hoping that they couldn't see her, the Acklay had an aggressive temperament and tended to attack and kill what ever threatened them.

She would run her hands across the upside-down bell shaped flowers that were found through out the terrain. After a while she decided to turn back, having found nothing of interest – well to her colleagues, anyway.

* * *

Once Echo returned to the ship she found Anakin lounging around in a chair in the control room.

"Took your time." He said to her as she entered.

"Well I'm _sorry._" she said sarcastically. "Excuse me for being able to appreciate natural beauty."

"Hey! I _do_ appreciate beauty – just … not … _that_ kind of beauty." He said, gesturing to the main window which displayed a perfect example of the Felucian landscape.

Some of the lights on the control panel lit up at that moment and began flashing urgently. Automatically, Anakin reached across Echo and held down the flashing button.

"It's Obi-Wan." He pressed a second button and a remarkably blurry, blue image of Obi-Wan appeared on the main screen. "Hey, master. Did you get any new information?"

"Actually I got very little. The residents are not particularly … hospitable. Keep to themselves and do _not_ welcome strangers." Obi-Wan's image frowned.

"Well that sucks. Back to square one." Remarked Echo.

Suddenly Echo froze as a chilling presence touched her mind. She turned to see that Anakin had as well and they exchanged a concerned glance.

"Master, we feel a disturbance in the Force." Said Echo.

"I know – I feel it too." Obi-Wan's image said as he looked over his surroundings. His face turned stern and then disappeared to leave only a fuzzy blue screen and there was silence. Then came the distinct sound of Obi-Wan drawing his light sabre. Trouble. Anakin and Echo looked at each other again before he raced out of the door – Echo activated the shields before following him.

Obi-Wan turned to see a Felucian woman standing -alone- before him. She had skin a vibrant, blood red and her distinctive ear/horns were white where they joined on top of her head but as they ran down past her ears they began to be striped in blue and white. There were large white circles over her eyes that seemed to exaggerate the size of her dark eyes and she was dressed in scant armour – dressed for war. Her blue coloured light sabre was, presently, pointed to the ground and her eyes and face revealed no expression.

"Greetings. I don't believe we met earlier – I was just in the village." Said Obi-Wan with a friendly smile.

"I would prefer it if you did _not_ disturb my people." Replied the woman - her voice expressing far more feeling than her face did.

"My apologies – I meant no harm." Obi-Wan's eyes were sincere now and there was no sign of a smile left on his face. "May I ask who you are?"

"I am Jedi Master Shaak Ti. And who might you be, young one?" Her voice was polite and cheerful though her face remained blank, cold.

_Shaak Ti? Why do I recognise that name but not her face? _Thought Obi-Wan. _How odd that her expression should never change._

"I'm Obi-Wan Keno-"

"Obi-Wan Kenobi! You _are_ a threat to my people!" Said Shaak Ti, she definitely appeared to recognise his name. Her stance became aggressive and she lunged at him with her light sabre.

In one stroke, Obi-Wan drew his light sabre and parried Shaak Ti's attack.

"Huh. A Jedi as well, I see. You failed to mention this. Therefore you must be treacherous!" She whipped around in the other direction to strike at Obi-Wan's neck instead. Her shots did not fail to persist and it was all Obi-Wan could do to keep up with her and neutralise every shot. Obi-Wan leapt backwards, out of the way.

"You carry a Jedi's title yet your logic is critical and you are apt to accuse anyone to be a threat with out giving conduct. And! _You_ attacked _me_ when every Jedi knows that our combative techniques are only ever used in _defence_." Obi-Wan analysed.

A wash of shock spread across Shaak Ti's face before she regained her composure. She suddenly attacked again – with increased pressure – and Obi-wan spiralled out of the way with enough force to counter her next attack as well.

"Obi-Wan!" Came a cry from his right. _Anakin!_ Thought Obi-Wan and a smile spread across his face. Now it was two on one.

Together they began to take control of the fight; however, Shaak Ti knew the terrain better and managed to use this to her advantage. Obi-Wan and Anakin fought Shaak Ti backwards, away from their ship but she leapt back and down off a short ledge about waist deep, form there she swiped at Anakin's leg leaving a deep gash across his calf – sending him collapsing to the ground. Obi-Wan jumped over him and down the ledge himself to battle her alone.

Echo came skidding to a halt and crouched next to the fallen Anakin, she placed her arm behind his shoulders to support his weight as he clasped his leg.

"Where the … _hell _have you been?" he winced, looking up at her.

"The shields buggered up." Echo shrugged. She grinned at him and he groaned as she stood up letting him fall again. She stood with her hands on her hips facing the brawl between Obi-Wan and the strange Jedi. "Hey!" she shouted, and Shaak Ti turned. "Forget me?" Echo lifted her right hand and Forced her away, sending her flying into a distant rock. Obi-Wan ran back towards his padawans, leaping back up onto the ledge.

Shaak Ti shot a menacing glare towards the trio before pelting in the opposite direction. There was utter silence except for the occasional hiss from Anakin as he tried to move.

"Come on then. Let's get you back to the ship and Echo'll stitch you up again." Obi-Wan sighed, sending a smirk in Echo's direction. He took one of Anakin's arms around his own neck and lifted him to his feet as they headed back.

* * *

"Ow!"

"Hold still, you big baby. It's just _cleaning_ fluid." Echo being the strongest medic of the three had been assigned the seemingly impossible task of mending Anakin's wound – made impossible not by the wound itself but by the patient. The strange, scarlet Jedi had caught him across the back of his left calf leaving a huge burn through his flesh. Echo and Anakin were sitting in the small main cabin at a close right angle with Anakin's left knee bent, foot resting on her lap – so that she could access the back of his leg easily.

"Ooowwww!" Anakin yelled again as Echo lightly dabbed at him with a fluid soaked cloth.

"I barely _touched_ it!" Protested Echo. "Right, that's _it_ I am using a local."

"_Thank _you." He sighed.

Echo filled a needled syringe with local anaesthetic and inserted half of it above the wound and the rest along the side of it to completely numb the area.

Anakin smirked as Echo continued to tend to his leg. "See. I don't understand why you didn't do that to start." This resulted in her stabbing him in the thigh with the handle of a scalpel in her other hand. She began to cut away the burnt flesh from the fresh skin.

"I wonder how Obi-Wan got on."

Right on cue, their master walked in from the control cabin, deep in thought.

"Well, turns out that Jedi Master Shaak Ti used to work on Coruscant but returned to her home planet – Felucia – when she began to train her padawan. Apparently she was around when I was young … but I don't remember her…" he trailed off for a bit. "In any case, they say she's harmless, really." He shrugged.

"Harmless! Yeah, completely." scoffed Anakin.

Obi-Wan chuckled. "I know. Hmm. She seemed a _bit_ out of character, in any case… and behaved very … oddly."

"Are you suggesting possession, master?"

"Oh come on! Evil _spirits_? Really?" Echo couldn't believe her ears.

"Not 'evil spirits', per say, but I suspect mind tricks may be in play." ventured Obi-Wan. "Your thoughts?"

"No I don't think so. If she's a trained Jedi she wouldn't have fallen for that." said Echo. Anakin remained silent.

"It's possible if she were particularly vulnerable. She lives at home so she could have been through trauma … with a parent, possibly? I think we need more information. Dilemma being that I'd be recognised in the village now and we need to keep a low profile and appear detached." He looked meaningfully at Echo.

"I'll go if you wish, master." She smiled as she stitched up the outside of the wound.

"Good. We had better get a move on – I feel that we are running out of time. Anakin, you best stay here and I will go _looking_ for trouble elsewhere. We need to find these droids."

"Done." said Echo, proudly.

"Finally!" Anakin teased, grinning at Echo.

"Do you wanna do it yourself next time?" asked Echo disapprovingly,

Obi-Wan shook his head.

"Come on, let's start moving."

* * *

The village was tiny and relatively quiet with only a few residents slinking around, hunched over and watching the treacherous ground below their feet. There was very minimal light and the atmosphere was thick and hazy. The village felt like it had been built into the ground and cut in levels; in each level there appeared to be buildings – homes, stores – etched into the jet coloured earth and there were dark wooden doors lined along the edges leading to god knows how much more.

Echo made her way to a tavern to find more information – as instructed by Obi-Wan – and found that it was even darker inside. All the furniture was made of a strange wood – the same colour as the earth walls – and it was meekly lit up by the occasional lantern. The room was small yet it seemed that almost the entire village was in there, drinking away their concerns. There was a long bar against the opposite wall and Echo slowly made her way towards it, taking caution towards the people and conversations around her.

"What'll it be, eh?" asked the stocky barman who's pale skin appeared luminous against the black background.

"Kanarwel salts and soda, thanks." Echo replied from within her hood. The barman raised his eyebrows and turned away as Echo sat up on an old stool and leant her elbows on the bar.

"Make that two." Came a voice from her right. _What the…_ Thought Echo as she glanced around the edge of her of her hood – it was the scarlet attacker from before! Echo bowed her head more, tilted to the side a bit and nodded her head slightly, in acknowledgment of her gesture.

"You know, I know who you are." said Shaak Ti.

_Shit_. Thought Echo.

"And I can probably venture a guess as to your reasons for being on Felucia, but … why are you _still _here?" she continued.

Echo took a long sip from her glass when it was placed in front of her then muttered: "Needs more salt."

"A girl of many words I see." Shaak Ti smiled. "It appears that we have … got off to a bad start – as they say." The corners of her mouth dropped. "I did what I did to defend my people."

"I understand."

"Look, I want to help you – truly. I know what you're looking for and I intend to help you get to it."

"Why should I listen to anything you say?"

"Because anything I have to say could greatly help that overly aggressive 'master' of yours and what ever plans he has been thinking up."

"Don't talk about him like that – you _clearly_ know _nothing_ about him – he's a _great_ man and a _brilliant_ master! In any case, I heard that you are a 'master' yourself but I see no padawan here by your side." Echo glared at the table in the long silence that followed. After a while, Shaak Ti spoke again:

"You are … right." Her reply was shaky and in a higher pitch than before. "I _did_ have a padawan of my own. I trained her here, in fact. She was _so_ talented – a real gem – but … she was killed when a rancor started a rampage on the area … it was _all_ my fault."

She fell silent again - her whole body trembling at the memory.  
"There, there." Echo turned to face her and placed her hand on hers, comfortingly. "Fate works in strange ways - I am sure that if you could have done something then you would have. Therefore it is _not_ your fault."  
Shaak Ti looked up at Echo. Her hood was now down and had released her dark pony-tail which was cascading over her shoulder; the braid that identified her as a padawan was not tied into the pony-tail but ran along side it. Her eyes were gentle and the dark shade of blue seemed to calm her - if only a little. Shaak Ti smiled meekly.  
"Thank you, my dear. You are the second kind stranger to comfort me so."  
"Really? Who was the first?"  
"A machined being with a harsh voice but … comforting words. If it were not for him I would still be mourning."  
"Machined?" muttered Echo. "Do you know who it was?"  
"I ... didn't catch his name."  
"Hmm... I am sorry to ask you this but ... _when_ exactly did your apprentice die?"  
"Not a month ago."

"And when did this stranger show up?"

"A few days later, about … three weeks ago." Shaak Ti looked a little confused.

_Then we may have our culprit._ Thought Echo. "I am truly sorry for your loss but I must leave you and return to my master – I have been gone for some time."

"Of course, I understand, and thank you for your kind words, my friend." Shaak Ti gave a smile, which Echo returned before she bowed and left."

* * *

Anakin was sitting in the control cabin – in case he was contacted by his companions – completely bored and swivelling on his chair. There had been nothing for _three hours _now and it was frustrating for him to know that the other two were off being useful whilst he just sat there … alone … doing _nothing_. Sometimes he would practice walking around on his lame leg – it was beginning to improve. He found that he could hobble quite quickly – he was lucky that the muscle wasn't damaged – and wasn't _too_ painful as Echo had bandaged it up tightly. Though it did sting like hell.

He was about to get up and walk again when Echo burst in.

"Hey." He said cheerily.

"Hi. Um… is Obi-Wan back yet?"

"Nope, he's been gone all morning. It's just you and me."

"Ok, I'll wait then." She sat down next to Anakin, staring blankly at the floor but, almost immediately, stood up again to look out of the window. Then returned to her seat.

"Echo?"

"Hmm?" she looked at him.

"What's wrong?"

"I think I have a lead."

"Ok so it's kinda important." said Anakin, eye brows raised. He span around on the chair to access the control panel behind him and held down one of the large white buttons. "I'm not getting any signal from him."

"Try widening the range. He _has_ to be there somewhere."

"Still nothing. How far could he get in one day?"

"Further than _we_ can with that leg of yours."

"Then we'd better get going." He grinned.

* * *

Once he had gotten out form under the forest canopy, Obi-Wan decided to follow one of the shallow streams that crossed his path, considering from his judgement that any sensible settlement would be based near a water supply – no matter how small. He hadn't been going for long before he heard a speeder coming towards him. He ran to the side to hide behind one of the gigantic plants. Form his hiding spot he could see an assassin droid racing down the stream – and it was alone.

_Must be a scout._He thought._We're a little closer than I'd thought_.

The second the droid had sped past him, Obi-Wan leapt on to the speeder – behind the droid – and decapitated it in one swipe.

"Well to find the den I must follow the tracks." He said to himself. With his new mode of transport – the droid speeder – he sped back the way the droid had come.

As he followed the stream, Obi-Wan came across more and more droids; some small groups of super battle droids but mostly it was only the occasional scout. After a while he found that the plants began to close in around him and orientated around a huge tree trunk that loomed into his vision on his right. The droids seemed to be coming from the tree so he stopped the speeder and hid amongst a clump of plants as he neared the tree trunk. The trunk had been dead for a long time and had been neatly plateaued off to create a platform about thirty feet off the ground. There were droids in the area but not loads of them – it clearly wasn't a permanent spot.

There were about half a dozen immensely thick roots protruding form the trunk so when there were no droids marching past, Obi-Wan sprinted across to the nearest one and climbed up to the top.

_I think I've found my base._ Thought Obi-Wan as he looked over the top of the root he had climbed and watched as battalions of droids marched out of an entrance in the base of the platform. _But what are they doing here?_

"Hey!" Came a robotic voice next to him, whilst it pointed a rifle to his head.

_Whoops._ Thought Obi-Wan. He grabbed the rifle and pulled the droid off the platform behind him as he slid back down the root and sprinted back under the cover of the plants. Too late. The fall of the droid had brought his presence to the attention of the nearby droids as well and a few of them began to follow him. Once far enough away from the base he decapitated them and ran back for the speeder and headed back to the ship.

"I need to report back to the Council before this goes any further."

* * *

"Come on, can't you walk – sorry limp – a _little_ faster?" Echo called back to Anakin, but the only reaction she received was him aiming a stone at her head. "Didn't think so." She said to herself. They had just reached a stream after wondering around in the forest-like terrain for ages.

"Wait, Echo. I think- "

"We _can't_ stop again, Anakin. You're gunna have to man up and- "

"Echo! I can hear something."

"What?"

"Not … sure. It's motorised. Coming from behind you."

"I hear it." She fell to a whisper. "Get down. It could be a droid scout or something."

They hid just away from the edge of the stream and waited as the sound got louder and louder – approaching them.

Echo mouthed to Anakin: _Stay there_ and ran further up the stream – still under cover – until she could just about see the speeder racing down the stream. Her eyes lit up and she walked into the water.

"Obi-Wan!"

"Echo!" He slowed down as he neared her and came to a stop in front of her.

"We came looking for you – I think I have a lead."

"Brilliant. I found a base. Wait, we? You brought Anakin hobbling along?" he grinned at her.

"Hey!" Anakin's voice came from behind them, very faintly, and they both laughed.

"Tell me about your lead."

"Well I ran into Shaak Ti and she was talking about a 'machined being' so I was thinking the Skakoan called Wat Tambor 'cos he was rumoured to be working with Count Dooku."

"Good theory but I didn't see any of his trademark technology. You spoke to Shaak Ti? Can we trust her?"

"Not really sure, but you know we were talking about how she could have been imprisoned by a Jedi mind trick – but only if she was mentally depressed? Well, she has recently lost her padawan to a rancor and she took that _really_ hard – blaming herself and so forth – and she said that this 'being' spoke to her soon after."

Obi-Wan chuckled once. "You have done very well, my padawan. I am impressed that you managed to get all that."

"It's a woman's touch, master" Echo grinned back at him very proudly.

"Well their base is small but I do not think that we can- "

"Argh!" cried Anakin from behind them.

"Anakin?" Turned to see him lying in the water some way behind her. "What are you doing?" She began to walk back towards him but a super battle droid came out from the left on the other side of Anakin who hadn't moved. She ran towards it and deflected one of its shots towards it – using her light sabre – destroying it instantly. "Where'd that come from?"

"Anakin, can you hear me?" Obi-Wan was now crouched over Anakin – who was still not moving.

"Anakin?" Echo sounded very worried and started to walk towards the pair but span around again when hearing something coming through the trees. "Master?" she said as she backed away from the droid that was rolling out of the trees towards her. It stopped, stood and activated a shield around itself.

"Its' a destroyer, Echo! Get away from it quickly now!" shouted Obi-Wan.

No matter how many shots she deflected back at the droid Echo did not inflict any damage but managed to defend herself and her companions until a rouge beam hit her from another direction, knocking her out completely.

_Crap, what now?_ Thought Obi-Wan, as he was surrounded by a dozen or more of these droids. "I surrender?" he said and raised his arms but the Droideka shot him anyway, leaving all three of them lying there, unmoving.

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**A/N like it? Please tell me by pressing the magic button ... pwitty please?**


	6. Chapter five

**A/N i havn't done this in ages but a huge thank you to my special beta LiGi for her input and flawless work with this and then next chapter in particular :D

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**

Chapter five

Anakin awoke completely dazed, his vision has blurry and dark and he could see nothing but black until his eyes began to adjust to the gloom. He tried to rub the sleep from his eyes but found that his arm didn't move. He squinted upwards to see that his wrists were clasped together above him by a luminous blue bonding, which was resisting any movements made by his arms. His feet were restrained by the same thing but around his ankles. He groaned in frustration.

"Anakin?"

"Obi-Wan? Is that you? Where are we? What happened?"

"No idea. We were attacked by droids with … something."

"Where's Echo?"

"Here somewhere – I hope. She didn't escape if that's what you're asking."

They were both restrained in the same way and next to each other, lined up in darkness, lit up only by the meek light emitted by their bonds.

Then more light suddenly came from Obi-Wan's other side.

"Wha-? Where'd my hand … oh … _great._" said Echo as she awoke and did the exact same thing as Anakin had – looked up at her hands.

"Echo, you're here!" exclaimed Anakin.

"Wherever _here_ is." Said Obi-Wan.

"Yeah, _brilliant,_ being captured and all."

"At least we're all together and … alive." Anakin said.

"For the moment." mumbled Echo.

"You must _not_ be so pessimistic" scathed Anakin.

"Stop fighting, you two. It's not going to help our situation." Obi-Wan sighed.

Just then lights appeared above their heads. All three of them groaned at the sudden eruption of blinding light.

"I knew that it would not be long before The Republic sent more than just spies to this domain but three _Jedi_ spies? It is almost … _over _kill_._" A metallic voice gurgled around the room. Obi-Wan, Anakin and Echo all looked around the room to try and find the source of the voice. "There is no use searching for me – I can see you clearly but you cannot see me."

"Oh, the wonders of a spot light." said Echo, sarcastically.

"Pessimist." hissed Anakin, from the other side of Obi-Wan.

The mass of black before them suddenly broke to reveal another spotlight over a huge table with more blue bonds at each end.

"Whatever you are after you cannot hope to get it from us." said Obi-Wan having guessed the purpose of the table.

The metallic voice chuckled loudly. "You have no clue what is going on here do you?"

"Care to enlighten us?" coaxed Obi-Wan.

"Jedi Kenobi. You _are_ a bold one." It gurgled, slowly. "Very well."

Echo's hands leapt forward - dragging her body along with it - into the darkness to appear again in the spotlight with the table and flipping her onto it. The bonds on the table attracted Echo's bonds and stretched her across the table. She let out a brief cry of pain as her spine was suddenly wrenched straight.

"Why don't you tell me what you think you are looking for?"

"I haven't got a clue." snapped Echo, bitterly. She glared into the black abyss, in the direction of the voice. Then her head flew back against the table as she screamed in pain when a whip struck her across her torso.

"Echo." Whispered Anakin as he winced at her pain – his eyes never leaving her – and Obi-Wan sent a concerned glance in his direction before turning back to watch Echo as the voice continued.

"Really? So you are here blind?" Obi-Wan noticed a flicker of the corner of a black cloak – with an unusual red lining – in the spotlight over Echo. It was circling her.

"No, actually I'm here on vacation." she said sarcastically.

"Jedi scum." This time when the whip came down on her she flinched but didn't make a sound.

Echo strained to continue: "So why are _you_ here? It's not a particularly sought after vacation spot – that's why I chose it."

She was struck again, to no avail.

"Why do you think?" the metallic voice lowered in pitch.

"To torture the mind of the resident Jedi." Said Obi-Wan.

"That red skinned weakling? Ha!" the laugh was curt and short.

"What do you want with her?" panted Echo. The whip cracked again.

"Why do you defend her? She isn't of _your_ species."

"It … is our …"

"Duty." Anakin finished her sentence for her, softly.

Metallic laughter rang again. "_She _is the reason you are all here."

"What did you do to her?" asked Obi-Wan.

"I used her … weaknesses to my advantage like _any other_ strategist."

"It is not the same … you _used_ her … in her greatest time of sorrow."

The whip came down again and Echo could now feel dampness through the excruciating sting from the hit. It had broken her skin.

"Why are you doing this to her?" yelled Anakin desperately.

The voice chuckled again. It whispered: "Weaknesses." but only loud enough for Echo to hear.

"Anakin, forget it … I'm … fine."

Anakin's forehead creased in frustration but he remained silent.

"This planet is in the Thanium Sector? Tell me, what does it have of interest for the Confederacy?" said Obi-Wan.

"Jedi have a blind spot for here in the Outer Rim." The voice stated before spluttering into a fit of coughing.

"I see; so this is about gaining territory behind our backs?"

"Are you _enjoying _this, master?" whispered Anakin.

"Silence!" the whip cracked again and Echo hissed. "You cannot read me _human_."

_Why her? Why is he using Echo to get answers?_ Thought Obi-Wan but then he heard a quiet whimper from his right and he could see the pain in Anakin's eyes. _Ah. I suppose he sees their friendship as a 'weakness'. _

"But why did you need to use Shaak Ti?" wondered Anakin.

"Because she is in charge here and it is an easier take over for them to have the leader to reassure the civilians." mumbled Obi-Wan which encouraged yet another metallic chuckle.

"Cowardly, isn't it, to take the easy route." Smirked Echo.

"It seems that I am not getting through to you." The voice almost growled, menacingly, as Anakin and his spot light slid across the room to stop a short distance from Echo. When Anakin and Echo locked eyes he could see that hers were wet and quivering where the tears were emerging and longed to relieve her form her pain. She closed her eyes so he could see no more.

_She doesn't deserve this._ He thought.

_No, not him too._ Echo thought. She could sense the pain that he felt for her, but she also knew that the metal voiced stranger could see it, so she did nothing. The whip cracked again and she flinched in preparation but the hit never came. Instead she heard Anakin cry out. She opened her eyes to see him writhing in pain, head bowed as he gasped for air. He did not look up.

"Will you listen now, Jedi scum?" The voice erupted again into coughs.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked.

This time she saw Anakin being struck, around his legs with the whip, with her own eyes. She snapped.

"No!" Echo screamed as her spine contracted and then she gasped as her body jolted. She remembered no more.

As her body jolted it had released a pulse that sent both Anakin and Obi-Wan flying backwards. As they hit the stone wall whatever was holding them to the ceiling broke and they fell to the floor but with the sound of them thudding to the ground, a clatter against the opposite wall could be heard – the metal voiced man. A second pulse washed across the room and this time the legs of the table holding Echo's body collapsed.

Obi-Wan heard a series of taps – like the sound of an insect – make its way across the floor and a hurt growl as the sound disappeared. He reached into his pocket and – fortunately – found a small lighting beacon which he threw into the air. It flooded the room with light to reveal that they seemed to be in a gigantic cave.

"Anakin, are you alright?"

"I think so, master." Anakin groaned. He looked up and saw Echo's body crumpled on the now cracked table and it took all his energy to run to her. He collapsed to his knees beside her and placed his hands either side of her face. "Echo? Echo, can you hear me?" There was no answer. He scanned her face for any signs of recognition; her lips were parted slightly … but her eyes were closed. He stroked her temple with his thumb. "Echo, come on."

Obi-Wan saw Anakin run and looked around to see Shaak Ti's body lying limply against the wall. He went to her side.

"Master Shaak Ti, can you hear me?" he patted her hand and she stirred.

"Master Kenobi? I remember you." She said weakly.

"I am glad that you are alright." he smiled at her kindly. "Do you know how you got here?"

"Not at all … I remember talking to your apprentice but then … nothing, I'm sorry."

"Not to worry; you are safe now."

"Master!" Anakin was panting desperately.

"What is it Anakin?"

"It's Echo … I can't find her pulse." Obi-Wan rushed to his side and held two fingers to her wrist. Nothing.

"I… I know that I am no medic but…" Anakin stuttered.

Obi-Wan tried her neck. Nothing. _No._ He thought and looked up into Anakin's ice blue eyes – now wet with tears – sadly and shook his head.

"She … she can't be … dead." Anakin swallowed hard. "She can't be!"

"I don't want to believe it, either." Obi-Wan's throat began to well up and he found it hard to get the words out.

"No!"

* * *

**A/N i know, a cliffehanger! how evil am i? please review and tell me what you think will happen next and (of course) what you think of it so far!**


	7. Chapter six

**Chapter six**

Obi-Wan managed to contact the Council by hacking into a system he found when searching where they were captured. It turned out that they had simply been deep down within the tree that Obi-Wan had found earlier. Whoever their captor was, they did not find out as he had escaped whilst they had been recovering. Most of the droids in the area had evacuated but the few that had remained where killed by Shaak Ti and Obi-Wan, after trying to get as much information out of them as possible. None of the droids knew the name of their leader but simply called him 'General' but they would have called _any_ of their leaders 'General'.

Master Yoda arrived in a small ship – bringing medical aid – and took them all back to Coruscant. A lot of energy went into a search to find any Separatists involved in the capture of Felucia but they came up with nothing. It appeared to be a tiny, private excavation that was not meant to draw itself any attention and was conducted under minor authority.

Anakin had completely broken down over the death of Echo and did not leave her side even after they left her body in a quiet room in the basement of the hospital. He would not let them attend to his injuries but just lay there across Echo's body. She had turned cold during their flight back. He was lying over her body, one arm over her stomach, the other across her chest.

"Echo I'm so sorry." He cried into her side. "I should have saved you. I should be _strong _enough to save you"

Under his left hand he felt a slight twitch. He looked up. There it was again, but that felt like a double beat. He pressed his hand into her chest to feel it again. His eyes lit up; that was_ definitely_ a heart beat.

"Obi-Wan!" He limped to the doorway. "Master, she's alive!"

As Anakin leant on the door frame to support himself whilst Obi-Wan came running, he missed Echo's weak, shuddering gasp as her lungs inflated and started to pump again.

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**A/N ok i know this is ridiculously short but all is reformed! please review**


	8. Chapter seven

**A/N A huge thank you to my beta LiGi for being so prompt with this!  
****oh and Alice, guess who! ... (will make sense soon) :D**

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Chapter seven

Anakin slowly entered the room in which Echo had been left. He had been told to go and get some rest once he had been treated for his own injuries but, honestly, that was never going to happen so long as Echo was unconscious. She was his _best_ friend. They didn't understand.

He had seen Echo with serious injuries before but never like this: she had purple blotches all over her skin from where the blood under her skin had clotted and formed bruises. She had an array of tubes running over her skin and disappearing into her wrists, upper arms, and her feet too, but they all carried different things: blood from transfusions, glucose and a _lot_ of pain killers. Her dark mass of hair had been tied roughly to the side to keep it out of the way, but her normally soft, clean tresses were now matted and strewn with dirt and splatters of … blood and other fluids that had escaped in the rush to stabilise her. He just wanted it all to end and to have her back again, healthy and teasing him as normal. Though she looked peaceful now she would probably be writhing with pain if not for extraordinary amount of stuff they had injected her with.

They had told him that her heart had ripped itself free of the vessels attached to it; hence the extravagant internal bleeding. They also said that, technically, she should be dead … initially she _was_ … but she had recovered. Somehow.

He slowly approached her sleeping form and sat in the plastic chair next to her bed. He gently traced his finger tips along the veins in her hand; they were thicker and stuck out more than usual because of the amount of IV fluids being force fed into her. He sighed and leant his forehead on her side.

_Please, Echo. I can't go on without you here._ He thought.

Echo awoke to a room completely clad in white and silver; the fatality ward. _Uh oh!_ She thought and looked around a little, feeling something on her side she looked down to see Anakin's head buried there. Sighing, she smiled and tried to sit up slightly, wincing at the effort as a pang was sent through her chest at the movement.

"Echo! Are you alright? How're you feeling? Where does it hurt?" Anakin had jolted up right, his voice panic stricken and his eyes wild with fear. She had never seen him like this before.

"Hey … hey don't worry; I'm fine." She said soothingly.

"Well _that's_ not true." Anakin's brow furrowed but his eyes relaxed a little. He helped her to sit up against the pillows, then dropped his voice to a whisper and, glowering at the bed, fiddled with the hem of the sheet. "I wanted to save you. I … _should _have saved you … but I wasn't strong enough."

"Anakin? Anakin, look at me." She took his hand back, weakly. He looked at their hands and gripped hers more strongly before looking into her eyes. Satisfied that she had his attention, Echo continued: "I'll hear none of that. Whatever happened wasn't your fault." she was so serious.

"_Whatever_ happened? You don't remember … do you? Well that makes sense."

"Well?"

Concern flooded into his eyes again. "Not ... _sure_ what happened but you kinda … pulsed."

"_Pulsed?_"

"It was like your spine _rippled_ or something … and you released some type of the Force – Obi-Wan's never seen anything like it before – but it sent everything flying away from you … and then you started … bleeding."

There was along silence where Echo looked blank, staring at the wall behind Anakin. He was frantically searching her face for a sign of emotion – any emotion – fear or anger or _anything_. Should he comfort her? Or give her time to take that in?

"See." Said Echo, eventually, still staring. "Told you it wasn't your fault"

Anakin sighed with relief, closing his eyes and brought the one of her hands he was holding to his forehead. "_That's_ the Echo I know." he mumbled.

Echo smiled gently and stroked the side of his hand with her thumb.

"You know what I don't get?" She said quietly.

"Hmm?"

"Why was it after me? Why torture _me_ for information?"

"Don't think about this _now_." He opened his eyes and lowered their hands and sat on the edge of the bed to look at her again.

"But it doesn't make _sense_."

"Echo. That thing probably knew that we three were important to the Jedi."

"But-"

"Loosing you would be the end of us." Anakin leaned closer to emphasise his sincerity.

"No it wouldn't." Echo laughed, and then winced at the pain.

Anakin placed his hand under her delicate jaw, raising her face closer to his slightly. Echo became transfixed by his eyes; soft and icy blue yet with a … shine she hadn't noticed before. He stared back into her eyes – much darker than his and sparkling in the light of the room – and brought her slightly closer again, his thumbnail gently gliding along her jaw line …

The sound of footsteps outside the door made both Anakin and Echo jump suddenly and Anakin got off the bed and sat in the chair again, but didn't let go of her hand. Obi-Wan burst through the door.

"Echo, you're conscious! Good. That will be useful." He grinned at her.

"Glad to see you care, master." She said, eyebrows raised mockingly.

"It's good to have you back. How are you feeling?" Obi-wan walked to her bad and kissed her forehead, before sitting in the edge of the bed like Anakin had done.

"I'm fine." Anakin snorted at her words and she glared at him. "Honestly, I am. I feel normal."

"Glad to hear it … but I think that, considering what happened, they won't let you out for a few days."

"What do you mean _'what happened'? _I fainted right, 'cos that's embarrassing enough." Echo's brow furrowed in confusion.

"Well, you … did Anakin not tell you?" Anakin shook his head and looked down at the sheets again. "Echo … you … _died._ But only for a couple of hours."

"Oh." was all she could say so Anakin squeezed her hand to comfort her. "But … but then … how?"

"We don't know, I – I found you … dead, when the thing ran off but … later your heart started beating again." Mumbled Anakin.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She whispered to him but he simply looked at her sadly, threading his fingers through hers and tightening his grip on her hand.

"I am sorry Echo, but you had to be told." She nodded sombrely, turning her gaze to him. "Well, I must go and inform people of your recovery." Obi-Wan patted her knee, got up and left the room, smiling at her as he opened the door.

"Are you ok?" Anakin asked her when Obi-Wan left. His features were distressed again.

She gave a long sigh before answering.

"Yeah … well, I mean … considering … well, physically…" She closed her eyes briefly. "I'm fine. What's life without a bit of trauma, anyway?" This made him smile again and she felt a kind of warmth at his reaction.

"Well that's enough _trauma_ for one day, I think. Rest now, I'll be here when you wake up."

Anakin sighed as he watched Echo sleep. This time he wasn't so worried about her – knowing that she was at least not in a coma – so he just rested his chin on his hand as she twitched and sighed in her sleep. His peaceful moment was ruined as a medical droid rolled into the room and headed straight for him. Anakin stood and quickly swerved out of its way and retreated to the other side of the bed and into another chair as the droid inserted a probe into a machine above where he had just been sitting. The machine made a bleep and the droid rolled out again.

Anakin rested his elbow on Echo's mattress and placed his neck on his hand, watching Echo again. He was so relaxed yet his heart would give a flutter every time she moved in her sleep, she was still a mess but she looked more … normal.

He gave a small chuckle as he looked at her wrist.

_I can't believe she still has it_. He thought, as he picked at the bracelet. It was a bracelet made of fine string – twined together in a pattern – which he had made her when they were small, she had run off from a lesson and when he found her she was crying and he had comforted her. The twine had been worn a bit and it now hung loosely around her tiny wrist but the colour still remained and the beads were still attached. Even the spiral pattern had remained though very stretched. He had made the bracelet to assure her that she wasn't alone … at least not here. They were family of a sort. He rolled the beads between his thumb and forefinger; it was a sandy coloured stone that he had taken from his home and on either side of the stone were three wooden beads. Anakin's fingers slid down her wrist and laced themselves between her fingers, until they twitched.

Echo took in a sharp breath and slowly opened her eyes, rubbing her forehead with her hand. She turned her head and was immediately drawn to the electric blue eyes that stared, lazily at her.

"Hi." She sighed.

"Hey."

Echo matched Anakin's gaze for a while, being absurdly aware of the close proximity of his face to hers. They were mere centimetres from each other …

"How you feeling?" He asked softly.

"Fine." She smiled in return. "Have you been here the whole time?" She said, her tone turning teasing.

"No?" Of course he had. He smiled bashfully at her and she nervously bit her lip trying to prevent a giggle.

"Ani? Ani!" Came a bizarre squeak from the door to their right. A tall creature with bubbly brown skin and long fin-like ears stood in the door way.

"Jar Jar?" Said Anakin as he stood up from his seat hurriedly. "What are you _doing_ here?" A smile creeping across his face.

"Eesah so good to be seeing yousah!" Cried Jar Jar as he leapt up and down whilst holding Anakin in a tight hug.

"_Ani?" _Said Echo, barely containing a laugh at this new pet name, sitting up in the bed. Anakin waved dismissively behind him as he struggled to breathe in Jar Jar's vice grip.

"Where eesah Obi?"

"Umm, he's around here somewhere. I hear you're a Senator now, Jar Jar. That's great!"

Jar Jar beamed and nodded enthusiastically. "Meesah filled with mwoy mwoy happiness and _honour."_ He suddenly stood up straight with a stern face that was instantly lost again when he saw the girl sitting watching them. "And who eesah this, Ani?"

"I'm Echo." She smiled and held out her hand to greet him. Jar Jar tilted his head at her a smiled. Then his tongue shot out and licked her hand causing Echo to almost instantly withdraw her arm.

"Meesah Jar Jar Binks. Eesah so good to be meeting yousah."

"Charmed."

Anakin had erupted into a fit of silent laughter at Echo's hand assault. Jar Jar made an 'ooing' noise as his interest now turned to Echo's monitors and she motioned Anakin to come closer to her.

"_Ani?"_ She asked again teasingly. Anakin blushed at this, slightly.

"Yeah … well … he's a Gungan, so…"

"I see." She laughed at his twisted expression until they heard the sudden beeping noise that came from the monitors soon to be followed by a clatter and a crash.

Jar Jar was half sitting, half _hanging_ in a tangle of spare tubing that was hung up on the monitoring machines Echo didn't need anymore. One of his ears was standing upright whilst the other was wrapped over his face like an eye patch and his tongue had been twined around his neck several times and all this had been secured by the fine, transparent tubing. Echo's hands flew to her mouth in shock and to prevent the hysterics from bursting out and Anakin leapt over her bed to help, however not restraining _his_ amusement, letting his laughter ring round the room.

"Come on, Jar Jar, I think we need to get you out of this hazard zone"

"Meesah sorwy, meesah not do it again. Oucheez!" He said as Anakin's hand slipped and thwacked Jar Jar with the tubing.

"Sorry, Jar Jar, I just don't see how you did this."

"Here…" Echo reached across the tangled Gungan and unclipped the tubes from the machine, causing him to collapse to the floor in a heap. Jar Jar made a chirping buzzing noise as he shook his head and the tangles flung off him.

"Meesah thank you miss."

"You're welcome, Jar Jar." Chuckled Echo.

"Was there a reason you wanted to see us? Everything alright on Naboo?"

"Oh yes. Naboo eesah fine. Padmé was mwoy worried when she heard abouts yousah, Ani, she wanted to _see_ yousah and talk to the grand Chancellor about … policeez."

"Padmé's _here_?" His voice almost touched the octave above and his face took up an expression that was a cross between shock and embarrassment.

"Mmm hmm." Jar Jar nodded enthusiastically in the affirmative.

"Echo! You're up, and Anakin's here too, good. We have been summoned … again. Hello, Jar Jar, how are you?" Obi-Wan had returned and his originally solemn face had lit up at the sight of their visitor.

"Obi!" Jar Jar leapt at him, assaulting him with his hugs.

"It's - good to - see you, my - friend." He managed to get out with the little breath he had left. He was soon released, however and looked up to see Echo, sitting upright, legs crossed and beaming from her bed, but Anakin was leaning on the wall, lost in thought and slight frown on his forehead. "Anakin? What's troubling you?"

Echo looked between the pair before answering: "Oh, he's just learnt that Senator Padmé had returned." Still grinning, of course.

"Ah, I see." Obi-Wan gave a knowing smile and Anakin looked up to acknowledge him with a weak smile of his own. "She's actually our next concern."

"Concern?" He was still frowning.

"Yes, well I can't tell you here so we will discharge our accident-prone-companion and –"

"It was not an-"

"Echo … shh." He grinned slyly as she crossed her arms but remained silent. "Anyway, I will … tell you later."

Soon after, Jar Jar decided that licking the flickering blue light bulb was a _good_ idea and so was asked to leave, probably before he destroyed more hospital equipment, giving Obi-Wan, Echo and Anakin a little privacy … and time to not worry about what he was going to break next. Obi-Wan had sorted out the discharge forms for Echo and they were now unplugging her from the machine, allowing the two padawans enough time to pester their master for answers on their new assignment.

"So what are we being summoned for?"

"Why do I get the feeling it's a bad thing?"

"Because you're the pessimist now." She said, sticking her tongue out at Anakin, to which he simply glared in return.

"Calm down, calm down. It's not really like anything we've done before. We're acting under request of the Chancellor."

"What?" Echo and Anakin shared a highly confused glance.

"Why? We've never done anything like that before?"

"I know but it's in the interest of the Senate. It's a protective guard over Senator Amidala." This stunned the both of them for a second.

"Why does she need us?"

"But – but … we're Jedi not Bodyguards." Echo wasn't _angry_, merely perplexed.

"It became public knowledge that she was coming to Coruscant on Senate business and her ship was attacked on landing."

"Was she hurt?" Anakin's concern was clear in every syllable of his words.

"No, she's fine. She used a decoy – just as we would – but her future safety is to now be our prime concern."

"Padmé wouldn't agree to something like this. She's headstrong enough to know that she can look after herself. This would be degrading for her."

"You remember her well, Anakin. Apparently she doesn't know of the plan." Anakin's snort and Obi-Wan's sarcasm made it clear to Echo – who had never met Senator Amidala – that this was very unlikely. "We are to meet with her this afternoon to try and persuade her to let us … keep an eye on her."

"Well, then we'd better get … going." said Echo as she pulled the final catheter from her wrist.

"I agree, let's get going. This isn't going to be easy."

* * *

**A/N Hannah i hope this made you feel better :)  
Very important that this is reviewed ... please make my day - the magic button (below) awaits! :D**


	9. Chapter eight

**A/N Ok I promise that I haven't given up on this I just wanted to have writen more for the next chapter before I updated this one but it kinda dragged out a bit :s Sorry about that. **

**This has lots of quotes in but is still AU and for those who are interested - I have drawn a sketch of Echo and it is now my avatar on my profile so check it out :) **

**Hope you enjoy.**

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**Chapter eight**

Senator Amidala's ship was attacked. Fortunately, for the Galactic Senate, she had used a decoy and so was not harmed, herself. Unfortunately, Padmé had now lost a friend – a close friend. The Chancellor and the rest of the Senate now feared for her life. Chancellor Palpatine wanted her under constant supervision until they could find out who was responsible for the attack but, naturally, she had refused.

Knowing that Padmé had been attached to Young Obi-Wan Kenobi and his little padawan, the Chancellor had decided to poke at her weak spot to try and get her to bow to his wishes and allowing him to place her a supervisor.

"I don't need a body guard, Chancellor. I can take care of myself." Padmé sat in one of the large recliners in the Chancellor's quarters as he tried – yet again to persuade her to let the Jedi help.

"Evidently, my dear." He chuckled menacingly. Padmé rolled her eyes but maintained her 'diplomatic composure'. She was going to get through this and find whoever it was that killed her friend _on her own_.

"Chancellor, is it not more important to be discussing how to rely up an Army of the Republic, as we are _meant_ to discus? We are going to need all the help we can get against these separatist involvements, I mean, what else could be behind all these withdrawals if the motive is to the diminish the potency of the Galactic Senate?"

"Enough of all this. When was the last time you saw your old friend, Master Kenobi?" There was that smile again. Taunting and sly.

Padmé couldn't come up with a retort fast enough and the Chancellor took her hesitation as her acceptance.

"Well, there we have it." He clapped his hands together. "I shall arrange for them to meet you immediately." He thanked her and said that he now had a lot to do and promised to see her later. With Obi-Wan. Padmé took a deep breath and exhaled quickly; pasting a polite smile to her features she stormed out of the room.

It _would_ be good to see her friend again just … not under these circumstances, if he heard about this he would be sick with worry and she didn't need more people telling her she needed help. She knew that Obi-Wan had a padawan: Anakin – the adorable little boy from Tatooine – it would be good to see them both again.

The three of them were in the elevator on their way up to the Chancellor's quarters. They stood in a triangle, with Obi-Wan at the point, all clad in their cloaks; Obi-Wan in his trademark brown with his two padawans draped in black.

Anakin's fidgeting became more and more obvious the higher they went and this only made it harder for Echo to _not_ laugh at him.

"Calm yourself, Anakin." Soothed Obi-Wan as he heard Echo snigger again at his shoulder. He glanced over his other shoulder at Anakin, who was obviously nervous; constantly straightening his cloak, moving his padawan's braid in front of his shoulder or behind his shoulder, only to change his mind again. Obi-Wan couldn't help but give a chuckle. "You're sweating, relax, take a deep breath."

Echo's laughter erupted again at his comment and her hands flew to her mouth to try and contain it.

Anakin glared at her, his blush deepening.

"I haven't seen her in over _ten years_, master." He muttered.

"It is the same with me, Anakin."

"I've never met her but you don't see me freaking out." Echo grinned tauntingly.

Eventually the elevator reached their platform and Obi-Wan led them out and down the corridor. As they reached to ominous oak wood doors Echo stepped closer to Anakin and took his sweaty hand loosely. He smiled at her weakly. The doors swished open and she dropped his hand again as they stepped through.

The Chancellor sat in a large and low wooden recliner with regally coloured velvet cushioning. His robes were striped in red and purple and flowed over his knees to the floor.

"Ah, Master Kenobi, and you brought your students too, I see. I welcome you all." He greeted them in a patronising tone but his arms were opened in a friendly gesture and the three Jedi bowed to him.

"Thank you, Supreme Chancellor." said Obi-Wan.

"Please. Come sit." Palpatine waved a hand to the sofa and he obliged and Anakin and Echo took up their positions to stand behind him, hands clasped in front. This _was_ a formal visit, after all. As far as _they_ were concerned. "I trust you remember Senator Amidala of Naboo."

They turned to see a pretty young woman with thick brown hair tied back in an extravagant head dress. She wore a glittering blue dress with long black skirts that brushed the floor as she sat.

"Of course. It's a great pleasure to see you again, my lady. How are you?" Asked Obi-Wan, his face brightened as he turned to her.

"Very well, thank you Obi-Wan. It's been too long. And yourself? How have you kept over the last ten years?"

"Not too bad, my lady."

"I am pleased." Padmé looked over the two jet-black henchmen that stood behind Obi-Wan. The girl was a little taller than she was, and had ebony hair that was tied high on the back of her head with only her padawan's braid loose. By the looks of it she was highly amused by the encounter. The boy however was very tall, with brown hair and a braid of the same fashion, Padmé felt that she remembered his face from somewhere…

"Ani? It _is_ you. My, how you've grown."

"Lady Padmé. It's … good to see you again." Anakin bowed to her and smiled slightly. _She hasn't changed a day since I last saw her. _He thought.

In her eyes he was clearly no longer the little boy she had remembered him being, but all grown up.

Echo bit her lower lip hard as she felt another wave of giggles wash over her.

"You've changed a lot over ten years, I see."

"Oh, but _you_ haven't changed a bit … I mean … you _have _but … um. But you've grown too … but not upwards – I don't mean … um." He quickly looked down, clearly uncomfortable now, remaining in a slight pout for the rest of the conversation – staring at the floor. Echo felt that she couldn't laugh at him for this. Padmé just smiled to herself and changed the subject for him.

"I don't believe we've met." She turned to Echo.

"No we haven't. I'm Echo."

"She's my second padawan." interjected Obi-Wan.

"Really? I thought there were strict rules about this kind of thing?" Padmé glanced from Echo to Obi-Wan and back again.

"Well, then I guess we must be the only exception." Echo smiled. Padmé chuckled gently.

"I can see you are, and every rule must have one. You joined soon after Anakin, then?"

"Yes, I think I was found … a _month_ after Anakin?" She turned to her Master who nodded once.

"Well, then we will have to make up for lost time and get to know each other quickly." Padmé's smile expanded and Echo matched her with an open grin.

"I think you're going to get along just fine. You're both ruthless enough." Teased Obi-Wan and the girls laughed at him.

"I'm glad you are bonding." Interrupted Chancellor Palpatine. "And, young miss … Echo, how are you recovering? You've been through quite and ordeal, I am told."

"Um … well I feel perfectly fine thank you, Chancellor, but I don't remember what I'm _supposed_ to be recovering _from_." All traces of her grin dissolved by her frustration at his question.

"Ah, of course. That's because you _died_, wasn't it?" His eyes were intent on her reaction. _The snoopy bastard, what's he fishing for?_ Echo thought.

"You _died?_What does he mean? What happened?" Asked Padmé.

"Well …" Echo avoided her eyes and rubbed the back of her neck with her hand, it was her turn to be uncomfortable yet Anakin couldn't bring himself to laugh at her. "We don't really _know_ what happened, but-"

"She was being tortured." Anakin interrupted simply.

"Her body was under great stress and just didn't react in a way that we would have expected. The consequences aren't known yet but all that matters _now _is that Echo is alive and well." Obi-Wan gave Padmé a meaningful look, his eyebrows raised. She could tell that they couldn't really explain now, whether it was without the council being there or because they truly didn't know, Padmé wasn't sure. She nodded in understanding anyway.

"Indeed, it is more than enough to know she is safe. However we have the safety of another to be concerned about now. Senator Amidala please reconsider letting us give you specialised assistance. You _are_ in danger."

"Excuse me, Chancellor, but I _don't_ need help and, in any case, I'm sure that the Jedi have more to do than to simply watch over _me_." Padmé stressed.

"That's what _I_ said-"

"Echo." Hissed Obi-Wan, she glared at the floor and Padmé chuckled at them.

"I do believe that the situation is that serious, Senator." Continued Palpatine.

"I don't need more security I need _answers_. I want to know who's trying to kill me. I can do that alone, without disrupting the Jedi any further." Padmé persisted.

"Understand that extra _security_ could be disrupting to _you,_ Senator but, perhaps if Master Kenobi, here, could oblige to the challenge?" he raised his eyebrows at Obi-Wan who nodded the affirmative. "I am sure that you would be far more comfortable in company you trust." A concerned expression transformed the features of the Chancellor's face as though he were trying to convince her to listen using his eyes alone.

Padmé fell into silent rage of frustration.

"Please, my lady. Do this for me. The thought of loosing you … is … unbearable." _Stupid coercive … stupid … duty!_ Thought Padmé. She gave a curt nod.

"Perhaps, simply by your presence, the mystery around this threat will be revealed." Her voice revealed that she had given in – probably having not been able to come up with any excuses.

"Thank you, my lady." Said the Chancellor.

"Now if you will excuse me, I will retire. I look forward to getting to know you better, Echo, we haven't known each other for far too long." Her expression was steely and cold after her reluctant acceptance.

"The feeling is mutual, my lady." Echo enthusiasm couldn't help but lifting Padmé's spirits – even just a little bit – and exposed a hint of a smile.

The men and Echo bowed to her as she walked out of the room toward her own apartments.

"She can be so … _stubborn_, but I am glad she saw my way of thinking."

"Yes, Chancellor Palpatine, she can be difficult but for good reason. She can see that we are on the verge of war." Said Obi-Wan.

"The Galactic Senate is greatly appreciative of you for doing this."

"It won't be a problem, Chancellor. Now, if you will excuse us as well, we must check the security." He said as her stood up, bowed and left the room, his padawans on his tail.

"I like her." Echo smiled as they climbed the tower up tot the Jedi Council Chambers.

"She looks happier than I was expecting. I had heard that since her instating as Senator of Naboo she had been rather troubled. I rather think it suits her." Said Obi-Wan.

"Anakin you've been unusually quiet." Echo turned and walked backwards to look at her companion properly.

"She hardly even recognised me, Echo." He still had a frown on his face, but he did lift his gaze to hers.

"People change a lot in ten years. She might not be the girl you remember. But, hey, at least you didn't stick your foot in your mouth." She ended cheerily, granting him a small smile at her.

"You're focusing on the negative, Anakin, be mindful of your thoughts." Obi-Wan lectured his padawans seriously but his stern expression quickly dissolved. "She _was_ happy to see us. I think she realises that she has more to fear then she might let on, she knows our company is needed." A slight smile graced his lips.

They reached the wide steps leading up to the Jedi Council Chamber, paused and waited until granted entrance to the room. Greeted by the Jedi they stood in the centre of the circular room and informed them of their prior meeting.

"In grave danger, she is." Stated Yoda, palely, shaking his head slightly.

"Your presence will help out enormously, Obi-Wan; I believe that finding this threat will be a good challenge for your young ones." Windu appeared to be whole-heartedly for this assistance. Echo and Anakin inclined their heads in acknowledgement.

"Very well. If changes are made, informed we will be." At Yoda's last words their brief touch base was ended and they bowed and descended the tower.

"Rest now?" Asked Echo hopefully but Anakin just made a short snort in the back of his throat. _Hypocrite. Who's being pessimistic now?_ She thought as Obi-Wan explained.

"Not yet I'm afraid. Senator Amidala will be in her apartments now so we will have to tell her our plan."

"So we'll make that plan up on the spot. Got it." Anakin smirked, clearly cheered up from earlier.

"No, I have a plan, don't you worry."

Padmé Amidala, being a visiting Senator, had a large apartment to herself with adjacent ones for her hand maidens and closer colleagues. Like Bail Organa. Her personal living space was very open planned with a large domed ceiling with blue panelling on the wall and blue flooring. The large windows covered the extent of the walls, allowing as much light as possible – and as much possibilities of being watched as possible. Two beige sofas were centred in the living space and it was here that they found Senator Amidala.

"I don't like this." She warned.

"We know Padmé, but you are in great danger. We need to check your security and probably place you under our surveillance." Padmé physically slumped at Obi-Wan's words. She knew that it was necessary but that didn't mean she had to like it. "Would you mind if we looked around your room?"

"Go ahead." She sighed.

Obi-Wan sat in the sofa opposite Padmé and nodded to Echo and she left with Anakin hot on her heels.

"Why are you so afraid of her?" She whispered to him.

"Give me time." He replied.

Padmé's room was circular and decorated in a similar fashion to the living quarters. It had a low, wide bed to one wall and only one large, curved window perpendicular to the bed. They inspected every corner of it, form the huge wardrobe to all the ledges outside the window.

"Ok, well the only entrance in here is the window - other than the door of course." Anakin started to scour the room for possible vantage points – if he was an attacker.

"Yeah, looks like it's actually quite a secure apartment. The job shouldn't be too hard."

"Oh, don't jinx it." He grinned at her slyly and headed back to the main room.

"He's grown up so fast." Said Padmé to Obi-Wan once the other two had left them.

"Fast? It has been ten years Padmé and surprisingly enough people _can_ change a lot over that amount if time. You yourself aren't the little inexperienced Queen you used to be."

"Yeah, I know. I suppose I'll always see him as that little boy from Tatooine." She sighed. "I like Echo, she has a clear head, but … if she's been _ill_ she probably shouldn't be put under too much strain."

"Echo can more than take care of herself; she's proved that many times. There was one time – when Echo was eleven – we had gone to the Bestine System to go and check out a shipyard in the Imperial base they had there. The Shipyard didn't allow females so we left her on the ship to 'keep watch', anyway, time went by and we returned to the ship to find Echo, light sabre in hand, circling a band of drunk shipyard hands all tied up and gagged." Obi-Wan chuckled. "From what she told us, it sounds like they had tried to take some spare parts from our ship – thinking that it had been abandoned. Big mistake."

"You have two very special students, by the sound of it."

"Oh, yes. I'm lucky to have the both of them." He smiled softly at another memory.

"You're not ratting us out to our new client, are you Master?" Said Anakin as they approached.

"Not at all. Find anything interesting?" Obi-Wan smiled innocently, a deep chuckle still in his throat.

"Not really, the only concern we have is the window but otherwise it looks to be a pretty sturdy room." Reported Echo.

"Surveillance shouldn't be too hard to place either. One of us can sit anywhere it in the room and get a good feeling for it so sensitivity to any changes would be easy to distinguish." Said Anakin.

"Surveillance? You're going to be watching me?"

"It's safest. We could take shifts and-" Began Anakin.

"I don't want to be watched every moment, it's _my_ life – I'll endanger myself if I have to."

"Alright, we'll monitor your room from out here if you'd prefer." Obi-Wan made peace before they all exploded.

"If that's what her _ladyship_ wishes."


	10. Chapter nine

**A/N I'm so sorry for the delay in updates – had complete mental bloke even thought this chapter is thoroughly set in the film.  
A huge thank you to carliecullenx for being my emergency beta (and coping with my impatience) for this one because LiGi has had email problems. **

* * *

**Chapter nine**

Night had fallen and by the time that Senator Amidala had retired for the night Obi-Wan, Anakin and Echo were all stationed in her main room, all paying close attention to the sense of her personal chambers. She had refused having even Echo guarding her room – she didn't want to be watched – but she did agree to having someone check in on her every couple of hours.

Therefore there was nothing to do but wait. All that could be heard was the sounds of the city outside but all three of them were acutely tuned to the senses and feelings in the bedroom next door. If there was going to be an attempt on Senator Amidala's life then it was going to be the night following the first attempt. That night.

To pass the time Obi-Wan tried to explore any possible 'side effects' – as he called them – of Echo's little episode.

"Try pushing at me again. Really concentrate this time." He stood about a foot in front of her balancing an ornament of the tips of his fingers, whilst Anakin _tried_ to keep his mind on everything going on elsewhere in the apartment.

Echo held her hand out with her thumb, index and third finger straight, her fourth and little finger slightly curled. This was how she usually summoned the Force. It just wasn't working anymore. She clamped her eyes tight in an effort to concentrate but that was lost when she finally felt the familiar tingle on the palm of her hand. But then it was gone. She dropped her hand to her side and released the breath she had been holding.

"I can't _do _it anymore, it just won't work." She glared at the ground, fury bubbling under her skin. Obi-Wan sighed, placed the ornament down and rested his hands on her shoulders.

"Look at me. _Look _at me, Echo." She lifted her eyes to his; expecting him to scold her, tell her that she was better than this even when she felt she wasn't. But he was smiling gently, and his eyes were soft. "Don't loose heart. It will return, you just have to believe that it will. Now let's try again." He turned to get the ornament again but her words froze him.

"But I can't be a Jedi if I can't use the Force … What if it doesn't return?"

Obi-Wan didn't want to even think about that. This kind of thing had never happened before. What would the Council do if she couldn't recuperate?

"Master? It's your turn to check on _Princess _Padmé." Anakin smirked. Obi-Wan was actually pleased that he didn't have the chance to answer Echo's question, he was never going to work out that answer. He nodded and left the room.

Anakin walked directly up to Echo and enveloped her in his arms, she sighed and rested her forehead on his chest, wrapping her skinny arms around his waist.

"Don't panic." He whispered in her ear.

"I'm in trouble, aren't I?" she mumbled into his chest. He could feel her shaking in his arms. This was her whole life and he wasn't about to let her loose it all just because she was having a tough week … or month. He squeezed her briefly before releasing her. He picked up the ornament.

"Ok. New approach. Don't try. Just lift. No hands." He stood before her holding the ornament on both hands. Echo took a deep breath. "You can _do_ this. Trust me."

"I do." Her eyes were determined this time as her gaze fell from his eyes to the metallic orb in his hands. Her heart began to pound and her breathing hitched.

_Why is this so hard?_ She thought. She ordered her whole body to relax and her glare intensified.

Anakin could feel the orb begin to quiver in his palms but he wasn't going to distract her now, he knew she could do this. She had to. But she needed help.

The ornament rose, just slightly, from his hand and her face lit up but the ball shook so she frowned again. The orb floated up to eye level and Anakin walked away from it to go stand behind her.

"Now use your hand." said Anakin and he picked up her hand for her, holding it in place, wrapping his other arm around the small of her back. The ornament shook again. "Whoa, don't let go of it now."

His hand came up to sit on her waist. Echo used her hand to guide the orb backwards and down to finish on the table. The split second that it touched the glossy wooden surface Anakin cried out, picked her up and twirled her around in his arms.

"You did it! I _told_ you, I knew you could do it."

Neither of them could stop grinning.

"You see. You're still a Jedi." Obi-Wan was standing on the opposite side of the room and had been watching the whole time; his grin matched theirs. Anakin dropped Echo to her feet and went to stand by him whilst Echo tried again.

"Why did you do that? Why did you do it for her?" Obi-Wan muttered in Anakin's ear, his tone stern.

"All I did was lift it for her, the rest was by her doing only, Master, I promise."

He gave him a reproaching stare.

"You must have seen how her determination mustered when the orb moved. I swear that was all I was doing. All she needed was the right motivation."

That made Obi-Wan smile. She was doing it all on her own now, it can't be his work.

"Since when did you become such a good teacher?"

"I just understand _her_." Anakin shrugged. "Anyway, if I'm a good teacher then it's all thanks to your inspiration, Master."

Obi-Wan patted his shoulder and laughed.

A clanging sound emanated as Echo dropped the ball. The men looked back at her confused for a second but then turned to stare in the direction that she was, just as Echo sprinted toward the bedroom door.

"I sense it too." said Anakin as he raced after her.

Echo flung the door wide open and ran to the window whilst Anakin leapt on the bed. Padmé started awake. There were long creatures running across the floor and the padawans diminished them quickly. Obi-Wan from the door spotted a light flash in the window. Impulsively he jumped through the glass, grabbing onto it just in time as it span away.

"Stay here!" Anakin yelled at Echo, who nodded at him. She sat next to Padmé and scanned her for any injuries.

"Are you alright, my lady?"

Padmé nodded and wrapped her into a hug.

* * *

Anakin ran to the nearest speeder park and chose the first he could find, hot wiring it immediately and flying off in the general direction after his master. Shouldn't be too hard to find a man dangling from a small floating thing, flying through the city.

He used the Force to locate him and closely followed him until another speeder approached the dangling Obi-Wan. He fell, plummeting to the ground.

"Come on, come on, come on." Anakin sped up, aiming below the falling figure. Only to reach him a spilt second early and race after the assaulting speeder.

"Take … your time … why don't you?" Obi-Wan panted. "What happened to Echo?"

"I told her to stay put."

"So she should be here soon, then."

Anakin grinned as he drove around the corner of a building.

* * *

Padmé's hand maids came running through into the room and as soon as she could confirm that Padmé was safe again, Echo made to leave the room.

"Wait, where are you going?" called the Senator.

"To go help my master."

"But you were told to stay here."

"Exactly, so who would expect me to actually stay?" Echo smirked and ran out of the apartments.

She ran to the nearest parking area she could find and the closest vehicle she could see was the bike speeder, she hotwired it and flew of.

She tried to use the Force to identify their location or at least any trouble in the traffic they might have caused. Looking up she saw a speeder had stopped in mid air. As she approached it she saw a figure leap from the vehicle and fall through the air. _Oh, man. That has to be someone I know._ She thought, only people she knew were stupid enough to fall through the Coruscant traffic. Sure enough it was Obi-Wan who was left in the speeder.

"Anakin, I'm guessing." She cocked her eyebrow at him. Obi-Wan nodded at her and turned to watch their companion falling again. Anakin had managed to swerve most damage and land on another speeder.

"Ok, we're off!" cried Obi-Wan, taking the wheel and vanished off after Anakin whilst Echo went another route, following a hunch.

The speeder that Anakin had landed on was doing its best to get rid of him and Obi-Wan followed behind it in case he fell. Anakin tried to break into the assassin but dropped his light sabre in the process. In the attempt to defend itself from the Jedi, the assassin didn't look where it was going and crash landed in the streets. Anakin flung himself off at the last minute and rolled on the ground. The other two arrived not long after that speeder crashed and Echo leapt off her bike to Anakin's side as he slowly got to his feet. Obi-Wan landed his speeder smoothly a little behind them.

"Anakin, are you alright?" Echo hooked her shoulder under his and tried to help him up.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He groaned, but she had expected him to say that so checked him over anyway, quickly running her cool fingers over the exposed areas of his skin and searched for any grazes. He was clear but his knee was twisted.

"Where'd he go?" Obi-Wan asked him.

He motioned his head toward the building behind them.

"Oh _great_, a night club. This is going to be so easy." groaned Echo, sarcasm littering her tone, rolling her eyes as they walked toward the entrance together. A thousand eyes followed them.

It was so dark in there and what lighting was available was flickering so much it was like there were constant mini black outs.

"This is hopeless." Echo muttered, to no one in particular.

"We're just going to have to feel our way round, with the _Force_ before you get any 'smart' ideas." Obi-Wan whispered back. He separated from them; because it wasn't really conspicuous if they went in as a group.

"You, know." Anakin whispered into Echo's ear. "You are the only girl I know who doesn't like the idea of walking into a night club."

Echo paused, turned to face him and whispered back:  
"I'm the only girl you know, period." She grinned and walked away before Anakin could object.

With all three of them stalking around the bar they got a lot of funny looks. The padawans met in the middle, sent each other questioning glances and confirmed that neither of them had seen anything. But then a scream came from behind them. When they got there, Obi-Wan stood with his light sabre drawn and a uniformed woman knelt before him, her arms and gun lying on the floor.

"Found her." said Obi-Wan as he dragged her out by her shoulders and Echo picked up the severed limbs and gun.

"Jedi business, get back to your drinks." declared Anakin as he swept out after them.

"You really love to show off, don't you?" hissed Echo.

"Well, come on, you would too if given the chance." He smirked.

They threw the woman against the speeders when they got outside. She was cringing at the pain of her arms and her breathing was staggered and desperate.

"Who are you?" asked Echo.

"Who sent you?" asked Obi-Wan.

"I'm sure you know the drill." Anakin glared at her. "Why don't you tell us?"

"I don't have to tell you … anything." she said. Her breathing was becoming shallower.

"She's going into shock; let me help her." Echo crouched next to the woman.

"No." said Anakin, sternly, holding Echo back by her shoulder. "Tell us now!"

"She won't be able to tell us anything if she's _dead_." Echo argued.

"Please. Tell us who's hired you." Obi-Wan took over, calmly.

"I'm going to die, aren't I?" the woman broke out into a choking fit. Echo turned and glared at Anakin with her 'see what you've done' look. He just made a face at her.

"If you are then we can ease your suffering. Who sent you? We need to know." continued Obi-Wan.

"He … he was a bounty hunter c-called-" She just seemed to shut down completely, like a droid. Her face shrivelled into nothing and her body went limp.

"There!" called Anakin. He drew his light sabre but it was too late, the armoured man had gone.

Echo looked down at the woman again – or what was left of her – and noticed an intricately carved piece of metal sticking out her neck. She picked it up tentatively.

"Master?"

"A poisoned dart. Must be." replied Obi-Wan, looking over her shoulder.

"I don't recognise it." She mused. "Can't be from this system."

Obi-Wan gave her a quizzical look.

"Uncle Dex." She explained.

"Oh, of course. He would know." Obi-Wan said nodding.

"Obi-Wan?" said Anakin. "We need to get back to Padmé, lest we get penalised for leaving her too long."

* * *

**A/N Please, please, please review if you like where this is going! **


	11. Chapter ten

**A/N So sorry this has taken so long to get out, a lot has happened in my little bubble e.g. new computer, exams, exam results, getting into Vet School :D, writers block etc etc. Anyway, thanks have to go to 'Pharoh's Assassin' for the very needed wake up call. I had also been waiting on my beta but it appears that there are communication difficulties again so I got impatient, apologies in advance for spelling mistakes that have been missed.**

* * *

**Chapter ten**

All three of them stood in the Council Chamber; padawans either side of their Master, facing Jedi Masters Windu and Yoda.

"I believe she was a Changeling." said Anakin.

"Make things difficult, that would." said Yoda.

"Well … no, not really, see, when she was shot by the poisoned dart she changed back to her original form."

Master Yoda looked to Obi-Wan for confirmation, brow raised.

"She was recognised as a Clawdite, Masters, so I cross referenced her DNA sample with archives in our possession of Clawdites living in our Star System and known Changelings."

"And what have you found?" asked Windu.

"Her name was Zam Wesell. Her clan and history matched that in our archives but we do not have any more recent information on her, which is a shame considering that she was killed before we could get her to confess her employer's name. All we know is that it was a Bounty Hunter, presumably held in high esteem."

"With this poisoned dart, was your Changeling killed?" asked Yoda.

"Yes, Master." said Echo, stepping forward. "We retrieved the dart itself but I did not recognise its markings as being from this Star System. My own knowledge is out of depth in this case but I am willing to go to a contact I have who can tell us more. If the Council wishes it."

Yoda made an approving noise in the back of his throat, giving her a smile, indicating that she could step back now.

"And what of Senator Amidala? What is her condition?" asked Windu.

"Echo checked her over soon after the assault – she was not harmed and has no clear signs of infection but she will need to be monitored closely." said Obi-Wan.

"Very well. Obi-Wan you will go with Echo to her contact and continue to track down this Bounty Hunter until you are needed elsewhere." said Windu.

"What of Senator Amidala? She will still need protecting." said Obi-Wan

"Handle that, your first padawan will." said Yoda, smiling kindly at Anakin.

"Why don't you send the second padawan out to join the first? Master Kenobi can surely handle the search for this Bounty Hunter on his own and Senator Amidala would benefit more from having double the protection." suggested Ki-Adi-Mundi.

"She is too young to work an assignment on her own, even if it is with Skywalker too." said Kit Fisto. Echo made a disgruntled noise in the back of her throat.

"It is not her age that concerns us, it is her health. Echo, you have recently suffered a trauma and I hope that you can recognise that you will be under our watch for some time." Windu turned to her.

"Bu-" she started but Obi-Wan subtly motioned her to silence.

"Echo understands that her condition is still questionable but I feel, as her Master, that she _is,_ in fact, capable of any position instructed to her."

"Unknown, the side effects are. Still in trouble, she could be." said Yoda, watching Echo's reactions closely; her face dropped and she watched the floor intently but did not argue.

"The Senator is very comfortable with Echo, much more than she is with just me. If Senator Amidala asked for Echo's presence and she was no longer needed with Master Obi-Wan, would she be allowed to join us?" asked Anakin. He wasn't worried about having an assignment of his own, in fact he was very much excited about the idea, but Echo had the right to help him and as her condition improved, confidence was the best thing she could be offered to help her recovery.

"We'll see how things go, I think." said Windu. "Anakin, you will escort Senator Amidala back to Naboo, use only public transport; this will try to help you keep a low profile." Anakin bowed in acknowledgement. "Master Kenobi, you will continue to search for this assailant with Echo's assistance until further notice."

The three of them bowed deeply and left the Council Chamber.

Once they had left, Ki-Adi-Mundi turned back to Mace Windu. "Do you seriously think that young Echo is a risk on her own?"

"Her condition is not stable yet and any side effects have still not revealed themselves, so until this health issue has been resolved I think it is best that she remains under watch." answered Windu.

"In immediate danger, I do not see her." said Yoda, staring at the floor, trying to read into the Force. Slowly he turned his gaze to his companions. "Care, we must take, else cause more problems, this could."

* * *

"I do not like this idea of hiding." said Padmé angrily as she packed her bags to leave.

"Sometimes we must look past our differences and do what is requested of us." said Anakin without really thinking, staring out the window.

"Ani, you've grown up." She said in a mockingly sweet voice, hands clasped to her chest.

"He's not the pesky little twerp he used to be." Echo grinned from her seat, cross legged on Padmé's bed, surrounded by clothes and boxes.

Padmé laughed and turned back to her wardrobe.

"I'm sure you have lots of childhood stories. Maybe you could tell them to me some time."

"Oh certainly, any excuse to make the great Anakin Skywalker blush like a youngling."

"Oh, I'm going to love this trip, aren't I? Now I'm exceedingly happy that you're _not_ coming with us, Echo." Anakin rolled his eyes.

"Come on, you'll miss me and you know it."

"Well, I know that _I_ wish you were coming. Oh! Towels." Padmé said and quickly left to go fetch the items she had left next door.

Echo stood to go stand with Anakin at the window.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Right, that's why you're being all quiet and stoic and _weird_."

He rolled his eyes at her again.

"Look, you know you're going to be great out there, you have nothing to worry about. But, hey, at least you have R2 with you." She grinned at him.

"I'm honestly not worried; I know I'll do fine without the both of you." Echo gave a little pout. "You know what I mean."

"Then cheer up. Whatever's bothering you will be gone tomorrow and you're going to need to be sharper than this if you're going to keep and eye on your Senator." He looked at her questioningly. "You know she's probably trying to break out as we speak, right?"

Anakin took one step toward the bathroom before Padmé returned. He thumped Echo's arm when she giggled.

"Ok, I think I'm all set." said Padmé and she sat on the edge of the bed. "You know, I didn't work so hard on this petition to see it all come together without me being there."

"Don't worry, I'm sure Senator Organa will do a fine job without you and everything will fall into place the way you planned it, you'll see." said Echo, sitting next to her again.

"And if it doesn't work we have other methods." said Anakin staring meaningfully at Echo.

"Ok, word of advice." Said Echo, turning back to Padmé. "Don't let him influence you by promoting his 'aggressive negotiations' they won't work for you're line of work … most likely."

"Aggressive negotiations?" Padmé looked between Anakin and Echo, her eyes glazed with confusion.

"Bare with me, I'm certain he'll bring it up again."

"Hey! Don't give her the wrong impression." Anakin's expression opened out to a mischievous grin.

"Echo, I'm so sorry you're not well enough to come." Padmé pulled her into a hug. "If it's any conciliation you're going to be greatly missed and I'll come up with some way to get you out there with us to see my home."

"I'll miss you too."

They all walked out to get the Senator's luggage downstairs, Padmé nattering away with one of her hand maids about what they should do without her presence.

"Ok, so explain something to me." Echo whispered in Anakin's ear, he inclined his head to hear her better. _"Ani?"_

"Yeah … that was something that my mother used to call me when I was little … Padmé met me when I was little and kind of assumed that was what she should call me. Honestly, I hate it but it's a bit late to tell her now." He shrugged.

"Ha! Only ten years late."

"Exactly … please don't hold on to this too long. I can already see that thing in your eyes."

"What thing in my eyes?" she smirked at him.

"That evil glint … oh, never mind, it's too late for that too. Now I'm genuinely glad we're going to be separated for a while."

* * *

They took a public transport vehicle to the inter galactic hanger so that they could catch the next star ship to Naboo. No matter what Padmé had argued about her need to be at the Senate she kept quiet when they got this far because, for all her quarrels, she was glad to be safe home soon.

They stopped before disembarking the vehicle since this was the end of the line for all but Anakin and the Senator. Padmé was being briefed again on what she was to do once she left them now and warned that she was no longer under the familiar watch of her guards. The Jedi was young.

Anakin was waiting fairly patiently, leaning up against the wall of the cabin.

"So." Echo leant next to him. "What are you going to do without me?"

"Actually succeed?" Anakin smirked at her.

"Oh, yeah? Wonna bet?"

They laughed, both grinning like fools. "So. You sure you can handle running the investigation on your own?"

"I'm not." She sighed. "Obi-Wan's in charge, I just follow him around like I'm some lost, sick invalid."

"Well, that's one way of looking at it."

"You know, they pretty much just grounded me for not trusting my abilities. They all know I'm better than this."

"They do trust you. It's the whole Jedi Force field thing, you have going on. It's unpredictable." He glanced sideways at her.

"I don't have a Force field."

"You did when you were in the hospital ward. You still kind of radiate ... something. I can feel it. It's weird and I suppose they don't understand what's going on. None of us do. Anyway, it's your ideas they're running on, therefore your op."

"Still wish I was coming with you." She pouted, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I know, don't worry." He slung his arm over her shoulders and pulled her into a sideways hug, kissing her temple.

Obi-Wan called him over for his final briefing and he and Padmé were sent off, finally. As he followed Padmé out, Anakin touched Echo's hand to get her attention. She looked up in time for him to give her a wink before he disappeared into the busy station.

"I do hope he doesn't do anything stupid." sighed Obi-Wan, watching his padawan walk away with concern furrowed in his brow.

"Don't worry, Master, he will." She grinned up at him.

"I'd be more worried about _her_ doing something than _him_." said Captain Typho.

"Then you obviously don't know Anakin." teased Echo, giggling. "I can give examples of his idiocy, if you like."

"I'm not going to like what I hear, am I?" the Captain frowned and turned to Obi-Wan.

"Well, that depends," he said. "How do you like your lunatics?"

"Locked up in a cage." replied Typho.

"Then no, you won't like it."

* * *

Later that day, Obi-Wan and Echo arrived in Coco Town. The diner was packed as usual.

"Good to see business is still booming." beamed Echo as they scoured the diner for any sign of Dex. She leaned across the bar and chimed a bell that was sitting there.

"Yes, I'm coming, take a seat." came the familiar robotic voice. A red and white coloured droid wheeled out from the kitchen holding a tray of food and went all the way round the counter before seeing her.

"Hey, there." Echo smiled shyly.

"Someone to see you, honey." The droid called back into the kitchen before turning to one of the tables, clearing the tray and looking back at Echo. "So good to see you again."

"Likewise." said Echo, giving Obi-Wan a confused look. He just shrugged.

"Take a seat; I'll be right with yuh." called a voice from the kitchen.

"Come on." Obi-Wan towed Echo into the last empty booth to wait for Dex.

"Obi-Wan!" bellowed the deep voice of Dexter as he arrived at their table. He hadn't seen Echo as she had his back to him.

"Hello, Dex!" Obi-Wan stood and embraced his old friend warmly. "It's been a while"

"It has, it has. But this time you bring a friend … well I'll be!"

"Hey, Uncle Dex." Echo smiled up at the Besalisk.

"Echo!" he boomed and took her up in his arms. "My little niece, you're so big now." Obi-Wan chuckled at their reunion. "So what brings yuh all the way out 'ere?"

"Well," Echo was released, offered her seat to Dex and took the dart out of her pocket. "We found this and were wondering of you could help us. I don't recognise it as being from this Star System and the markings weren't in our archives but maybe you have an idea?"

"Hmmm… I do have an idea … Echo, go help with the customers; I need to talk to your boss."

"Bu-" she started.

"Go." Dex barked at her whilst absent mindly running his deft fingers over the dart.

Echo sighed, removed her cloak and ducked behind the counter top.

"Don't say anything interesting whilst I'm gone." She called over to them.

"Echo, do as you're told." Obi-Wan grinned at her and she stuck her tongue out at him over her shoulder as she disappeared into the kitchen.

"She reminds me a lot of you, yuh know." Dex glanced up at his friend. "If I didn't know she was Alborne's daughter, I'd have guessed she was yours."

"You know you're not the first to say something like that. Apparently we're very similar." He smiled distantly. "Anyway, your idea?"

"I can see why you don't recognise it, the markings aren't common. Those droids in your archives only read _symbols_, this is marked with unique markings and engravings only done by hand. Each is technically unique. It's the funny little cuts on the sides 'ere that give it away."

"And Echo didn't recognise it as local so …?"

"Yes well, she's only young. Can't teach her _everything_ in six years."

"She's wonderful, none the less."

"She is." Dex chuckled. "It's from the Star System of the Outer Rim."

"Thought it was." called Echo from the kitchen.

"Can you tell me what it is, Dex?" asked Obi-Wan, leaning in across the table.

"What you've found 'ere is a Kamino Sabre Dart. Quite deadly." he scoffed.

"Yes, well it was for our informant."

Echo walked past again with a tray muttering 'Kamino' several times under her breath. Obi-Wan rolled his eyes.

"I'm not familiar with the planet. Is it in the Republic?" Obi-Wan asked.

"No, it's not." Echo reappeared at the table, sans tray and with a grubby white apron around her waist. "Outer Rim, right uncle?"

"Well, yes, but a little further out, about twelve parsecs from the Rishi Maze." He beamed.

"Shouldn't be difficult, I'll find the coordinates in the archives." said Obi-Wan.


	12. Chapter eleven

**AN – Ok, where is all the time going? I can't apologize enough since my course has been taking up more of my time than initially thought and the stories are starting to suffer – this cannot happen.  
Thank you to katniss12 for reminding me and to Carliecullenx for being my new Beta :)  
**

* * *

**Chapter eleven**

_Naboo_

Neither really knew what to expect over the next few days. How long would it take for the assassin to realise that she wasn't there? Once they did, they would most likely guess Naboo as her location and therefore the human capital, Theed, but would it be too obvious to choose to stay somewhere more remote? Padmé had settled on a family Villa in the lake country, Varykino, as the safe house and once they had finished business in Theed they would move there. She chose it because it was far away from the eye of the capital and she would still be safe and comfortable.

Anakin and Padmé had no trouble getting to Naboo and once there they were greeted warmly. They spent that first night in a town house in Theed whilst Senator Amidala informed her associates about the future arrangements and wrapped up any queries. Anakin was introduced as her personal security to her colleagues and welcomed fondly.

There were meetings after meetings, about security, other Senators expressing their concern for her safety, voicing their worries about her having 'such a young boy' watching over her. All Anakin really did was follow her around, checking every corner, every window, every door and try to ignore the comments.

"You're nervous." She whispered to him. It wasn't a question; she could tell he was anxious from the way he picked at the corner of his robes. They were waiting outside a council hall for a requested meeting with the Queen.

He glanced sideways at her then looked forward and took a forcefully deep breath.

"It's my first assignment on my own but … I'm _not_ worried."

"Good, neither am I." She smiled to herself. "After all I'm sure everything will be fine so long as R2 is with us." The droid chirped up behind them at the mention of his name.

Eventually they started to leave for Varykino, after Anakin voiced his own concerns about spending too much time in the public eye. So they took a ferry deep into the lake district where Padmé had connections to the villa that she had known as a child. They got out of the city by meeting the caretaker of the villa with his gondola in a remote and quiet part of the city.

"Paddy, it's good to see you again." Exclaimed Padmé on seeing the man at the boat.

"It's been a long time, my lady." The old man smiled.

"Oh, excuse me. Anakin, this is Paddy, he's worked in our family retreat for many years now. And this is the Jedi Anakin, Paddy, he's here to protect me and ensure nothing happens to me." Anakin bowed to the old man, respectfully, and he did so in kind.

"Well, Master Jedi, you have your work cut out for you with this one. I still remember the days when she was young and enjoyed the thrill of going out on the lake." Paddy gave a deep chuckle. "Anyway, we should get going."

The journey was a fair distance, enough to get away from the capital, and once Theed was out of sight, Anakin could see a marked difference in Padmé – she was more calm, visibly more relaxed.

"How you holding up?" asked Padmé from where she sat across from him on the shallow boat that glided them across a large glassy lake.

"Not bad." He glanced at her briefly before letting his mind drift out again, constantly searching. "Haven't found anything yet, but I hope that isn't just due to my obvious _inexperience._" He flicked his gaze to her just in time to see her wince.

"I'm so sorry about them. They just don't understand; yes you are young but your skills aren't something that will have to improve with age, necessarily. _I_ know that you are more than up to this task."

"Thank you." He muttered. A part of him was flattered but then a part of him didn't know if she was just being kind to him. She was a politician after all.

They were nearing their destination, which was neatly settled into the side of a hill on the edge of the lake; it's elegantly curved architecture built in a soft sand coloured stone with soft tones and luscious greenery that both surrounded and climbed the building. It really was beautiful and at least there Anakin could relax for a while.

* * *

There wasn't much for Anakin to do as the protection detail; he was shadowing Padmé whilst she went about her business. When she wasn't in even more meetings she would be writing to a correspondent in the courtyard garden that overlooked the lake.

Few official people knew she was back on Naboo and it was essentially Anakin's job to make sure she was safe if their presence leaked out. The fact that most people still thought she was on Coruscant meant that there was a lot of letter writing to be done and that meant that they were locked away for long hours. Padmé was aware of how tedious if must be for him to stand around and follow her so she wanted to make more of an effort for him to see more than just her offices.

"Have you heard from Obi-Wan recently?"

Anakin looked up at her, not expecting the branch of conversation.

"No, I know he's busy. I'm not really sure if he's meant to check up on me, actually. I report to Master Windu if anything goes wrong here…"

"Is there a protocol you have to follow when you and your master take different assignments? I would have doubted you would be so isolated from him." She didn't look up at him but continued to scan the page she had in her hand so she didn't catch the crease in Anakin's forehead.

"I don't know. It's never happened before … I mean, it must have at some point but never to us, so I don't really know what's going on."

"It must be more of a test of independence, then."

"Could be." He said, smiling to himself. He hadn't had much of a chance to prove himself before, even if this was just a security detail.

"Are you worried about him?"

"No, he can look after himself. It's strange not going with him … and I will always be worried if he gets into trouble but I can't do anything about that. He's a like a father to me so I guess I'll always be worried if I'm not there."

Padmé looked up to see him staring at his feet. How young he appeared.

"And Echo?"

"Well, I know she can do just fine without me." She smiled at the smirk on his face and returned to her letters, pausing and folding away her papers.

"Come with me, I have something to show you."

* * *

_Kamino_

"So the mystery planet _does_ exist." Obi-Wan chuckled into the intercom. All data on Kamino had been whipped from the archives so Obi-Wan had relied on what other Jedi could tell him.

"Didn't doubt you for a second, Master."

"I see the settlement; R4, head for that landing platform."

R4 made a responsive bleep and the craft dived toward the blue planet. The entire planet appeared to be taken up by a restless ocean and there was water everywhere: falling from the skies, running off the roof tips and falling into the incredible expanse of ocean below them. The only settlement visible was a collection of circular buildings with pointed, cone-shaped roofs. It matched the description of the capital, Tipoca City, that Dex had given them.

They had only just disembarked from their craft into the pouring rain when the doors to the closest building slipped open. Echo immediately jumped to defence, her hand to her belt but Obi-Wan stopped her as he could sense no threat just … tranquillity. The Kaminoan strode toward them, standing tall and elegant, almost glowing white against the dark atmosphere on the platform. Its neck was extensively elongated, with a small, serpent-like head and wearing long silky looking robes.

"Welcome, Jedi, we have been expecting you."

Echo really struggled to cover her shocked expression at this greeting but a cross glance from her master kept her silent; her uncle had warned them to be polite so she just bowed her head, feeling the water trickle down the collar of her cloak.

"Well, we are very sorry to have kept you waiting. Forgive us. I am Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and this is my apprentice."

They bowed in unison.

"Pleased to meet you, I am Taun We. If you follow me I will take you to our Prime Minister." With that she turned back to the doors and slinked away. Her long, elegant strides made her seem to be moving in slow motion and appeared rather eerie.

Obi-Wan and Echo shared a cautious glanced before Echo nodded to her master and followed him out of the rain.

* * *

Prime Minister Lama Su was even taller than Taun We and wore a long dark robe. He had welcomed them warmly, informing them of how the order was doing well with two hundred thousand troops at the ready and a million more on the way. He then insisted on showing them how it was going along.

"Had you heard of anything about a clone army?" whispered Echo. Obi-Wan simply put a finger to his lips and shook his head slowly.

They followed the Kaminoans through well-lit corridors with simple, smooth architecture when they suddenly reached a walkway lined with enormous glass windows overlooking a hall below them. Lines of white armoured men were collecting helmets and weapons in regimented form and Lama Su told them that they were growing at an accelerated rate but that the original, a man called Jango Fett, had requested a copy for himself which was not accelerated.

The real shock arrived when they reached one of the corridors and were confronted by a large chamber filled with rows after row of clones.

"This could be a phenomenal army but in the wrong hands …" muttered Echo, in awe at the militia before her.

"Does the original still live here?" Obi-Wan asked Lama Su.

"Oh yes, we like to keep him close by. Would you like to meet him?" the Prime Minister enquired, a gentle hand waving in the direction of another corridor.

They stopped at a door and knocked gently. It was opened by a young boy with a flash of dark hair and Lama Su addressed him kindly, asking if his father was home. The boy nodded and wandered off to another part of the living rooms, they followed him to a man who very strongly resembled the boy. The child stood back but continued staring evils as the Jedi. Echo narrowed her eyes at him but the boy didn't waver, instead fixing his stare to her alone.

"Jango, this is the Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and his young apprentice." Taun We introduced them to the man before them and they bowed in acknowledgement. "They have come to see how the project is getting along."

"I see." Jango Fett surveyed Obi-Wan as if sizing him up but Obi-Wan remained civil, smiling pleasantly at him as always but Echo could see the warning look in his eyes.

"Your clones are very impressive, you must be very proud." Obi-Wan said.

"I'm just a simple man trying to make his way in the universe." The defensive edge in Fett's tone made Echo snap her eyes to him, analysing him. Obi-Wan must have picked up on it too but instead he smiled at Fett again.

"Ever made your way through the Interior to Coruscant?"

"Once or twice."

"_Recently?" _

"Possibly." Fett shrugged.

"Then you must have known Master Sifo-Dyas. He must have hired you for this job."

"Never heard of him. I was hired by a man called Tyranus." At the mention of the name Tyranus both Jedi did well to hide their reactions.

"Curious." said Obi-Wan, all pleasantries gone to be replaced by a testing stare from both parties.

"Do you like your army?" muttered Fett. Obi-Wan suddenly showed a wry smile.

"I look forward to seeing them in action."

* * *

**A/N Trying to keep to the original story line now so there will be some lines and scenes from the film but with my added interpretations. I'm struggling a little with the split in the story line here so please tell me if you think it's not working like this.**


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